“It is often said that sport and literature are antithetical, but I do not agree. These two universes can coexist and be sources of synergy”affirms Marc-Olivier Taccard, manager of the only French bookstore dedicated to sport, Le Vestiaire à MoT, located on Place de la Libération in Nice. At the beginning of April, this former sports journalist and AS Monaco collaborator was able to celebrate the combination of his two passions: literature and sport.
“One day, I wanted to buy a friend’s book on football, I went to Fnac, to several bookstores, but I couldn’t find it anywhere,” he says. From there also came the idea of a brand that would offer a vast catalog of sports books. After several internships in bookstores and a handful of modules delivered by Book Conseil training, Marc-Olivier Taccard then imagined a hybrid economic model.
The bookstore as a place of life
The 90m2 of surface area available to it are divided into three universes: while more than half is dedicated to books, the rest is divided into two co-working or meeting spaces, it depends. “I wanted to create a living space where we can do several things, have a coffee, chat, work among books… it guarantees me several sources of income but it will perhaps also allow people to take another look at the bookstore »he explains.
If today its shelves accommodate nearly 2,000 references, Marc-Olivier Taccard wants to see double. “We have to get away from preconceptions about athletes, some are extraordinary characters who have lived five lives in one”supports the bookseller, readily quoting the boxer Mike Tyson or the gymnast Nadia Comăneciat the heart of The little communist who never smiledof Lola Lafon. To better blur the boundaries erected between the two disciplines, the bookseller – marked from an early age by school reading Leading the way of Roger Frison-Roche – therefore chose to keep the traditional layout of bookstores.
“We need to get away from preconceptions about athletes”
Literature, paperback, history, philosophy, cooking, well-being, comics are all sections into which sports books of great diversity are found. Next to Chantal Thomaswhich delivers an ode to swimming in The embrace of water (Arthaud), Sylvain Tesson takes the black paths to get from Mercantour to the west coast. Peter Handke signs the philosophical The goalkeeper’s anxiety at the time of the penaltybrought to the cinema in 1972, while Jean-Baptiste AndréaGoncourt 2023, gives pride of place to mountaineering for One hundred million years and one day (The Iconoclast).
And to convince the less sporty to discover the store, Marc-Olivier Taccard does not skimp on events of all kinds, especially in the run-up to the 2024 Olympic Games. On the program: dance show with a Tahitian troupe as a wink. look at the surf competition in Tahiti, but also meet with Yvon Amielcreator of the youth series Antoine the pilot in view of the Monaco Grand Prix, discussions with the cycling specialist Julien Camy and Xavier Garcia (Magnificent LosersSolar), or even a conference with Pierre Assouline (The SwimmerGallimard) and Etienne Bonamy (The road warriorsExergue).
