- The bookstores have been closed since the lockdown was ordered, and meanwhile platforms like Amazon continue to sell here and almost around the world. That is true, those who have bookshops have had to pay the share of self-employed exactly the same in March. Durango hitz's bookstore has denounced this situation through its Twitter account on March 31, a message that has been broadcast by many people. There are concerns, as the extension of COVID-19 can cause significant damage to the already weakened economic activities.
Many questions in the bookstore sector: the picture was no longer easy, the huge digital shops were swallowing up the whole market and, as has been seen in this crisis, public administrations have only made it easier for them to go. The day after posting this message on Twitter, Gaizka Olaberri, from the Hitz bookstore, answered the questions of ARGIA.
As he explained, there is currently a great lack of information among those who have shops like yours. He recalled that it was already said that the quotas of the self-employed would not pass, but that they have finally passed. “In this situation we have no income, and yet they have,” he said. In addition, he recalled that Amazon not only competes with bookstores, but it sells everything on this portal and its activity affects almost all small businesses right now.
Online selling, an option for the big ones
Inés Garcia (Tobacco Days): "Only big platforms can make online sales profitable, for us it's not the solution."
Inés García, from the Tobacco Days library in Tabakalera (Donostia-San Sebastián), is also turning to the question ‘how am I going to go on with this? '. Information passed to him by the Gipuzkoa merchants association has enabled him to catch the call from this media by filling out the aid application form. He recalled the decisions taken at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis: he decided to close the containment before it became official and from the beginning he was quite clear that closing it means that, closing it completely. “Some bookstores said they would sell it online, but I was pretty critical. Only big platforms can make that profitable, we have no choice. And everyone’s responsibility is also there: selling books online can put my health and others’ health at risk, such as post workers and distributors.”
According to Olaberri, orders from bookstores are beginning to be accepted in Catalonia, proposing that books be paid now and collected after the lockdown is over. “I haven’t set out to start on that yet, but if this is going to take a long time, you will have to think about it,” he said. In any event, it seems to him to be a better alternative to the one proposed to bookshops in the French State: to keep them open. “The library association there says that this is not the solution, there is no one on the street, it makes no sense.”
García, for his part, has highlighted the attitude that some publishers have adopted over these days on this issue. For example, some publishers have placed discounted books in the stores of their websites. The purchaser can indicate in which store he wants to be delivered and the discounted money will be received by the bookstore. “There are original answers,” says García. “But I don’t know to what extent they will be effective.”
Book Day, surely, closed
They have both replied that they are not very clear about what will happen after this with the bookshops working outside the big chains. In addition, on April 23, this year’s Book Day, shops will surely remain closed and these kinds of dating are usually important in the annual turnover of this type of business. “You can close many shops, small workshops, etc.,” says Olaberri. “And the people who hurt him is the cultural consumer, that’s what he’s going to do.” The same holds for García: “Around me there are a lot of people who are running out of work and it’s my kind of customer. There will be other priorities when getting out of here and you will have to see where books occupy.”
Gaizka Olaberri (Bookstore hitz): "We've always been optimistic, otherwise we wouldn't have worked on this."
In the face of this black panorama, in spite of everything, both have shown some rays of light: “The booksellers have always been optimistic, otherwise we would not have worked on it. We'll leave here, we'll have to hold it, turn around... I think we have to think about that custom of buying everything in one click and collecting it at home the same day. That is what has brought us to this. And I believe that the decline will be the future,” said Olaberri.
García has also concluded the interview emphasizing that in recent weeks everything has not been negative: he pointed out that he has noticed some “good gestures” by some larger companies in the book sector, which not all are fishing in turbulent waters, because the situation is bad for everyone. However, it believes that more support will have to be given to the sector by public institutions, as there are bookshops that play an important role in the cultural ecosystem.
As much as institutions, it's up to readers to be aware of it and buy it when things get better, in the book shop closest to their home.