The Day of Bookshops will be moved this year to November 13 due to the general strike called for November 11, the date on which this event has traditionally been celebrated since 2011, this event organized by the Spanish Confederation of Guilds and Associations of Booksellers (CEGAL).
This year CEGAL will focus on “one of the gravest issues” facing independent bookstores, the cost of renting their premises, and has already announced that they are working on a proposal to recognize these shops as “singular cultural spaces.”
“More and more bookstores have to leave their premises due to rental prices that undermine profitability or make it impossible to take over business handovers because of price increases after the owner retires,” the confederation noted in a press release issued this Wednesday.
The recognition as singular cultural spaces draws on initiatives such as the French “Paris Commerces”, which relies on property management by semi-public companies and on incentives for both the shop owners and the entrepreneurs who want to continue the bookstore activity.
CEGAL believes that this proposal “would help mitigate the drop in points of sale and maintain a diversified sectoral fabric” and appeals for a consensus between the public and private sectors to sustain the activity of small shops with “an essence that differentiates them from the corporate uniformity that is taking hold in our territories.”
Over the past year in Madrid emblematic bookstores have closed, such as Tipos Infames —in February—, while Pérgamo —the oldest in the city— will close in November because the lease is not being renewed, and El Aleph in December, due to retirement and lack of succession.
The latest Map of Bookshops compiled by CEGAL, corresponding to 2024/2025, put the number of independent bookstores in Spain at 2,754, compared with 2,977 in 2022.
A survey conducted in February by the Association of Madrid Bookshops —in which 63 of the 154 member shops participated— indicated that 84% operate under rental arrangements and only 14.3% had guaranteed continuity in their current location.
A 33.3% said they had given up hiring staff due to the prices of rent.
“The price of our shop rents pushes us out of the main streets where the activity has developed for decades, and, in the best of cases, relegates us to spaces with less commercial impact,” said Álvaro Manso, vice president and spokesperson for CEGAL.
The Day of Bookshops is a festive day to advocate for the cultural nature and promotion of reading that bookstores provide, with activities such as book signings, public readings, talks, and discounts on the sale of books.