“We want to thank the welcome we have had in the neighborhood,” says Imanol Agirre de Garoa. The place located on Zabaleta de Gros Street is being serviced by telephone before the first candle is turned off. Starting to appreciate the path taken, the focus is on organized events, about 200 since its launch in San Sebastian – it must be remembered that the year is 365 days, it is an impressive rhythm.

“At first we had to create such a sound; after all, we functioned as usual: we have done so to try to bring people closer and enter into their customs.” A lot of effort, but very welcome. “We realize that a family is being formed here. This is the approach that Garoa has, from the group of readers to the creation of a family with ‘Paper Concerts’ or ‘Paper Theatre’”. These are two projects that have been organized in the store: concerts and representations between books, designed for a small dimension, that convey to the public a feeling of exclusivity.

The musical performances have been the most successful, as the guests have not been the weakest – The Wave Pictures, Jabier Muguruza, The Sadies, John Berkhout, Robert Ellis…–, plus those who have previously acted at the Garoa de Zarautz. In Zarautz, yes, because we speak of a two-headed cultural animal: in Trinidad Street of the coastal village is the project inherited from the parents by the brothers Imanol and Eneko Agirre, which a year ago spread to the capital.

A wager? Did they have it all well calculated? Agirre says no: “It often seems to me that the feasibility plans are a big lie, there is nothing more to do with how much the budgets of the works of the highways rise.” More than calculus, the word is a passion. “I have to do everything I get into my skull. It was a dream and we had to prove it so that it would not remain “had it done it”.

Trying to create a bookstore of this century

But books, who buys them? It is not the most desired cultural product, opinions are often published, if you have to say everything, a little apocalyptic, which announce the “death of the reader”. Therefore, there is not “a lot of profit” when you start something like this, Agirre himself recognizes it: having every month a living wage for the workers, that is the challenge.

And that also requires other add-ons: “The bookseller can sell anything, backpacks, toys, photocopies or quinielas. We had been clear from the beginning that we had to create a militancy around it, when we talked about the first families that talked about it.” In Agirre’s view, the Kaxilda bookstore in the Amara neighbourhood also tries to do something similar: “Attempts strive to attach importance to attempts and from a political point of view. In our case, it was clear that he needed some cultural sense. From there, nobody knows what the bookstore of the future will look like.”

If it's not a big nuisance, maybe there will be room to be more than to buy. In Kaxilda you can eat and drink, for example, like your cousin Katakrak, from Pamplona. And the little novelty that Garoa announced with the anniversary is that they are going to put some tables for anyone who wants to have a beer or a coffee, “or just to suck the wifi” says Agirre laughing. Precedes the nuance to whatever: “We don’t mean we’re coffee shops, we’ll continue to be bookstores.”

Looking for used jewelry

Agirre has pointed out that from now on “two steps backward” will be taken in search of new paths, “three to advance”. They are about to re-emphasize the base: “We don’t want this to become a concert hall.” The acts are focused on literature and book. In addition, the back of the store is being filled with second-hand books. This model is becoming more widespread if you do not look at the new Re-Read franchise that has been launched in Pamplona.

“On the one hand people want to buy cheap; on the other hand, there are amazing jewelry.” In many languages, in the case of Garoa: so far they had specimens in Basque and Spanish, obtained in Donostia and surroundings; and now they have also been joined by those in French and English, for dealing with the To The Lighthouse store that closed in Ziburu.

The slogan is paper, paper and paper: the Agirre brothers, who a few years ago pioneered the analysis of the possibilities offered by the electronic book, have realised that this field is not their own ground. In addition, Imanol is convinced that paper offers a different experience: “We can read it once or twice a day: enjoy as we can. I'd rather have the paper in my hand."