Making the best of a bad situation is the daily life of Émilie Grieu, a bookseller at Pipelettes, in Romainville, Seine-Saint-Denis. Stagnant or falling sales, rising expenses, the noose is tightening. Between transporting books, the €3,000 rent, three (modest) salaries and the electricity bill, “we’re not making any more money,” notes the manager. At the same time, the average shopping basket at Pipelettes has dropped, €24 this year instead of €27 last year. “Marianne” spent a day at Pipelettes.
9 h 30 : Rue Carnot on the Romainville plateau, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists hurry to work on this gloomy Wednesday. At the Pipelettes, lights still out, Émilie Grieu sets in motion what in reference to Star Wars she calls ” R2D2 “, a household robot that scrubs the 70 square meters of parquet flooring: ” It saves me two hours a week of vacuuming and mopping! ” she rejoices. Spending your days between 100,000 titles does not mean that you are exercising a purely intellectual activity. ” I devote 40% to the bookselling profession itself, that is to say the choice of books, their presentation, advice. The remaining 60% is management. ». Lire ? « I work on Sunday and a little on Monday, which is the day I’m closed. ” Dreamers, abstain.
