INTERVIEW
It is an area that was already fragile, and that the health crisis linked to the coronavirus has further weakened. Bookstores can also reopen on Monday, but under very strict sanitary conditions. Indeed, no question of strolling, touching or leafing through the works. "Unfortunately, we will have to relearn or rework on what we did before March 17," said Xavier Moni, Parisian bookseller and president of the union of the French bookstore.
Invited to Europe 1 on Sunday, he explained how the profession was going to have to adapt, after first declining the government's offer to reopen bookstores during confinement.
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"We made the right decision"
"This virus prohibits everything that makes the characteristic and the happiness of our profession", regrets Xavier Moni, enumerating the contact with the client, the proximity, the exchanges, the advice ... "We will have to continue to to do all of this, but we will no longer be able to do as before, and this, for an indefinite period, "he continues. Also, the president of the union of the French bookstore assures it: the sector will do everything so that the teams are available for the customers, so that the places are pleasant and that the customers feel safe there. "We will always have the specificity of the book object which is the desire to touch it and leaf through it, but we will have to be more reasonable in relation to this."
Reasonable. The union made it a point of honor to be so from the start of the health crisis, not grasping the outstretched hand of the government which suggested, at the start of the confinement, that the bookstores could be reopened. "We always put a form of principle of responsibility during the crisis and we did not demand the reopening of bookstores during the peak of the epidemic," recalls Xavier Moni, adding that, if the bookstore is essential and necessary, " nor was it vital at the time. "
What is more, he adds that a hasty resumption of activity would have generated flows of customers, and would have forced a certain number of people to work on the logistics and production chains. "It was not reasonable and essential, a posteriori, I am sure that we made the right decision".
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"We worked hand in hand with the publishers"
Today, when the priority of the sector was to wait for the health situation to improve to open in better conditions, the time has come for the booksellers to raise the curtain. "We are seriously working to reopen in good conditions for our teams and for our customers who will be able to enter the stores, fewer, and with health precautions and a fairly framed protocol in order to restore confidence to everyone", assures Xavier Moni.
Regarding the resumption of activity, and the promotion of new products, the Parisian bookseller is confident. "We worked hand in hand with the publishers to make the machine slow down," he explains. "You will find the novelties which were to be released the week of March 18". The life of the bookstore therefore resume where it left off, and the role of the bookseller will be here to give new life to all these titles which, released just before confinement, could not find their audience.
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"We need a strong political gesture"
Overall, book sales are down 33%. A collapse in the turnover of bookstores which could be felt more during the summer and at the start of the literary season, explains Xavier Moni, emphasizing the case of small independent bookstores.
For the time being, however, the latter says he is awaiting announcements concerning the book sector. "I hope that what the President of the Republic has promised regarding a massive aid plan for culture, will not forget books and reading which are pillars of our society," he said. "France and the government would honor themselves by promoting a real plan to make reading a real common cause and a real national plan in 2020 and 2021," says the president of the union of the French bookstore. "Everyone said that during the period of confinement, the book and the reader were essential to life, but I believe that we need support and a strong political gesture."
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