What will become of bookstores?

The bookstore is a cultural center. In many places, it is the only center that voices the concerns of the society it serves. There was a time in Spain when bookstores were so socially (and politically) relevant that they were the target of hate campaigns by those who, like Goebbels, viewed culture as a threat. In Texturas magazine (March 2011) Lola Larumbe of the Rafael Alberti bookstore recalls the time, soon after Franco's death, when her establishment was attacked by terrorists who entertained a nostalgic hatred for books.

These days bookstores face different problems, says Larumbe. As a matter of fact, their troubles could be summed up in one question: Will they hold out? Store owners say yes, but they face a long list of challenges, beginning with the technological developments affecting music, movies, books and newspapers alike.

The numbers are not encouraging. There are currently 4,500 bookstores left in Spain. The sector has been enjoying some measure of stability since 2005 (before that 90 establishments were shutting down for every 60 that opened). But more closures are expected.

At the Guadalajara International Book Fair, the writer Fernando Vallejo, author of Our Lady of the Assassins, said: "When the e-book truly takes hold this honorable profession (of publisher), which began shortly after Gütenberg 500 years ago, will be more obsolete than that of watchmaker or chimney sweep."

Bookstore owners are no less concerned. The situation, says Paco Goyanes of Librería Cálamo in Zaragoza is "complex." Around 125 store owners, publishers and distributors met recently at his shop to discuss what's to be done about problems like a strong drop in sales to institutions (libraries, education centers, local authorities), or an overheated market where the excessive offer is strangling sellers, and which, says Goyanes, "is reminiscent of the real estate crisis."

Readership figures are not good either. Around 91.1 percent of the population say they read, but only 55 percent read books. Of these, 41.3 percent say they read on a daily basis.

"We have never been in such a critical situation," adds Pere Duch of Librería Babel in Castellón. He also mentions declining numbers of readers and progressive adoption of new technologies as some of the causes and goes on to list several more, among them the government imposed system of selling books to schools, the disproportionate competition in small towns, and the economic crisis.

So much for the present. What about the future? In order to survive, says Duch, "bookstores will have to make room for paper books and digital content" and also "seek strength from partnerships with other bookstores to be able to offer their clients greater advantages and services."

Concha Quirós of Librería Cervantes in Oviedo says that bookstores need "to do their job, which is simply to be the advisor and intermediary between the author and the reader. Independent bookshops - those of us who are left - have a future ahead of us if we are good at our jobs as booksellers."

There are other optimists around. Rodrigo Rivero of Lé in Madrid feels that paper books will be predominant for a long time. But he adds: "We bookstore owners should keep up with the times, update our computer systems, maintain powerful sales websites for all formats, have a presence on social networks, offer ourselves as cultural spaces to liven up our stores and so on."

Not content with that, Rivero goes further and says books should be paired up with other cultural offerings such as food, photography, painting or travel - without forgetting to keep up with developments in the electronic book world and being ready to meet that demand.

Juan Manuel Cruz of Librería Rayuela in Málaga says that the market has contracted at least 30 percent in the last three years, and complains about what he terms "the crusade against the paper book" and the inordinate praise of digital books.

"What was once, and for several centuries, a valuable social object is being demoted to the position of an obsolete item that needs to be urgently replaced," he claims. Yet the present is "as stormy as it is attractive. (...) Until now, the independent bookstores have successfully overcome death threats from various technological changes such as the CD-ROM."

Montse Moragas of Laie in Barcelona warns abuut a different kind of danger: for the bookseller "to be left out, to not know how to keep evolving in order to preserve a determining role in the world of culture, to adopt a defensive, victim-like attitude and to fail to seize the opportunity to get a foothold in the digital world."

The writer Luis Landero, who remembers the days when bookstores were almost a sacred place, believes that a few small places will survive, and that besides electronic books, we will see "personalized or instant editions; for three or four euros you'll be able to have good quality, inexpensive beautiful editions. (...) Bookstores and paper books will become a great reserve of luxury items."

Fernando Valverde, president of the bookseller association Cegal, notes that alarm over new digital formats diminished once more information about reading devices became available. In fact, Valverde believes that small and midsize bookstores "are holding on better than chains and large stores" because they are "more adaptable to difficult times" and because they know that "it is not always possible to grow and at any cost." Valverde illustrates his point with the cases of Crisol, the Spanish bookstore chain that closed down, or the purchase of Bertrand by Casa del Libro. "They speak for themselves about the difficulty of maintaining giant structures where the human element, the warmth of personal dealings and blending in with your environment, is more complicated than it is for independent bookstores."

Yet Valverde is also optimistic. "People have never read as much as they do now. New bookstores are opening under younger management. In the last decade we have also seen young new publishers enter the market and throw their weight behind quality literature, creating beautiful, desirable objects."

And while fear of change may be paralyzing, "we must not waste energy trying to face down the new formats. They are not mutually exclusive because the experience of reading on paper and reading on a screen are essentially different. And both are good. And both can and must co-exist for a long time to come."