142 bookstores opened their doors in 2022 in France. Since 2017, one in two has settled in a city of less than 15,000 inhabitants. The western facade and the south of the country benefit the most from this movement.
Books are a hit. Bookstore creations, driven by the good health of the book market, amounted to a «level record» in France in 2022, according to figures published Monday by the National Book Center (CNL). The public establishment supporting the sector counted 142 new bookstores opening, better than the 140 of the previous year. The net balance is 115 additional bookstores, compared to 112 in 2021. The pace of creation of these businesses has accelerated sharply compared to the end of the 2010s, when the CNL identified 60 to 80 per year. The western facade and the south of the country benefit the most from this movement.
The establishment of these new bookstores follows the attraction of French people to “certain rural and coastal areas (Atlantic, Languedoc)”. But it also happens “in peripheral municipalities of dynamic metropolises (Bordeaux, Marseille, Nantes, Rennes in particular) or medium-sized towns and cities”explains the CNL.
Popular medium-sized cities
Many new booksellers choose cities that lacked this type of trade. “One in two bookstores opened since 2017 has been in a municipality of less than 15,000 inhabitants and one in four of less than 5,000 inhabitants, in an often claimed approach of local service”according to the CNL. “If the pace seems to be slowing down, around fifty opening projects have already been identified in 2023”adds the public establishment.
These figures are published on the occasion of an operation to promote reading, the National Quart d’heure de lecture, which takes place every year on March 10. This will be the second edition of this event, also called #10marsjelis, and organized by the CNL in collaboration with the Ministry of National Education. The goal is to “to put reading back at the heart of our daily lives, explains the CNL. By making us want to read 15 minutes a day… or more!”