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Lucía has just inherited the bookstore from her mother, Mercedes, great-granddaughter of Santiago Rodríguez. The only women at the helm of a business that has traditionally passed from father to son. He says that the store "was not born by accident", but thanks to the ambition and entrepreneurial spirit of his great-great-grandfather. At the age of 21, Rodriguez visited the Universal Exhibition in London and "was amazed by the new printing presses." So he decided to set up a publishing house, a printing workshop and a bookstore; Risky combination at a time when 80% of the population was illiterate. "He was convinced that the best way for his country to move forward was for people to learn to read and write."

As romantic as it is self-sacrificing, the bookseller's trade is full of ups and downs. After the emergence of the internet with its promise of cultural diversification overshadowed by piracy, the crisis derived from the pandemic portended the worst for small bookstores. Nothing could be further from the truth: today they are experiencing an unexpected moment of splendor.

The clearest exponent of the guild in our country is the bookstore Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez, which opened its doors in 1850. Located in Burgos, it is the oldest independent bookshop in Spain and the fifth in Europe. Unlike the other four – Matras, Bertrand, Hatchards and Galignani – which surpass it in longevity, it has not succumbed to offers from big businessmen to change ownership. Despite its multiple transfers within the Castilian-Leonese city, it preserves "the same philosophy it had at the time of its foundation of bringing reading closer to the people", as Lucía Alonso Rodríguez assures.

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According to a report by the Spanish Confederation of Booksellers Guilds and Associations (Cegal) published in the spring of 2022, there are more than 3,200 independent bookstores spread throughout the Spanish territory; 45 of them recently opened. From the census that throws the Todostuslibros.com platform, 68% are consolidated businesses (with at least 12 years old), while 21% of bookstores exceed four decades.

Works published by the former publisher of the bookstore. Araba

173 years of history and six generations of booksellers give rise to many anecdotes: "Every day we are surprised with something," says Alonso. At first, they sold mainly didactic works, intended for teaching in schools and academies. Not surprisingly, its façade sports an emblem with the face of Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom and the arts, along with the motto "The school redeems and civilizes", a constant reminder of its founder's appetite for intellectual progress.

Alonso Rodríguez recounts, excitedly, how a few months ago an Argentine jewelry seller, son of immigrants, visited them to thank them for their work on the other side of the counter. "He brought us the books with which his father and grandfather studied, all with the stamp of Santiago Rodríguez. He left them to us as a gift, because he said that without them his grandfather would not have been able to leave the village, nor have studied a career, nor have carved out a future."

Digitalization forced them to catch up: in 1999 they launched their first website and currently have an advanced online sales platform and profiles on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. "We have to be where the customers are, whatever their age. We do everything we can to improve their shopping experience," says Alonso. From Cegal they point out that a high proportion of independent bookstores has gone digital. Three out of ten are on social networks, seven out of ten have a website and nine out of ten have implemented an electronic payment system, which has increased their sales by 96% compared to 2016.

Interior of the bookstore Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez.Araba

Alonso Rodríguez assures that in recent years the demand for children's and young people's literature has multiplied, "a clear sign that adolescents read a lot". For the bookseller, it is essential to transmit that love for reading to children: "Those of us who were inveterate readers see in books a kind of cure for the poisoning of devices and screens caused by technology." The use of the Cultural Bonus has become one of the great incentives for young regulars to its bookstore who have just reached the age of majority.

During the confinement, online platforms such as Amazon or chains such as El Corte Inglés made their particular August due to the impossibility of buying books in physical stores. The boom, however, stagnated once the sanitary conditions allowed to leave the homes: the numbers then played in favor of the neighborhood bookstores, "those of a lifetime". "Many clients confess to me that they did not read, but that in the months of confinement they got bored of television, of listening to terrible news. Then they rescued those books they had abandoned and resumed their taste for reading," says Alonso Rodríguez. According to data from the consultancy GFK, department stores and multinational companies invoiced 52% of book sales in Spain last year, while 42% fell on traditional bookstores, a channel that grew the most compared to the figures of 2020 and 2021.

Although Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez is experiencing a boom thanks to the post-covid readership boom, the country's turbulent economic situation has repeatedly attacked the bookstore. "Of course we have thought about giving up sometimes, especially since the crisis of 2008. We have suffered for years and have been forced to make many adjustments. But in the end you always feel sorry and you prefer to keep fighting to get this done, "says Rodriguez's great-great-granddaughter. Among these adjustments are up to three changes of premises; Transfers that have not always been well received. Alonso explains that, "when tourists come, they are surprised not to find old shelves and that everything is too new, being the oldest bookstore in Spain."

Its first store was located on Calle Laín Calvo, where it remained for just over a century. It was in 1960 when Lucas Rodríguez -grandson of the founder- moved the bookstore to the Plaza Mayor in order to expand the capacity and reinforce its notoriety. In the new establishment of three floors they opted "for the minimalist attention trade, with one employee for each section", but the turn of the century made it necessary to economize, reverse that business model and depend on a small staff "where we all do a little of everything", in the words of Alonso. Since 2019, it is Avellanos Street that hosts this emblematic corner of Burgos.

Given the good health enjoyed by the family business, Lucía Alonso Rodríguez hopes to continue running it for a long time. He does not lack the illusion or the desire. The future, for once, is hopeful: in the middle of the route of the Camino de Santiago, the bookshop is another place of pilgrimage for lovers of good stories. Sales figures, closures and price increases aside, the biggest challenge for booksellers now is to live under the yoke of constant reinvention to ensure that the power of reading captivates new audiences.

  • literature
  • Burgos
  • Castile and Leon
  • novel

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