Bagnols-sur-Cèze: at the heart of the Occitane bookstore, share knowledge and create connections

Emmanuel Rullier et Pierre Laboueibe, des libraires passionnés et passionnants. C. C. – MIDI LIBRE

The end of the year made up for a difficult summer for booksellers. Customers are attached to their local business.

It has been brand new for a year, the Occitane bookstore, managed for almost five years by Emmanuel Rullier and Julien Viteau (the latter manages another bookstore in Paris and a publishing house). With Pierre Laboueibe, their employee, they were hoping for a great summer, after a complicated winter of 2022-2023: the business had moved under the arcades for four months, while the shop was under construction. This resulted in a significant drop in activity. So, on July 2, it’s “the hammer blow”. During the riots, the bookstore window and door were broken. The business is forced to keep its fence closed and is having a disastrous summer. "We did click and collect for three months, like during Covid times." The repairs will take place at the end of September. The drop in turnover, significant here too, should be compensated by insurance.
This end of the year has brought some balm to the hearts of booksellers. "We worked a lot." Overall,  “people continue to buy books and are attached to their independent bookstore.”.

"A living profession", in the heart of the city  

Booksellers have a loyal clientele of numerous individuals, schools, the Lascours Academy, around fifteen libraries, from Laudun to Chusclan, from Codolet to Saint-André-de-Roquepertuis. The Bagnols media library is a privileged partner. The media library team solicits booksellers when an author is invited so that they can sell their works. 
Emmanuel, Julien and Pierre are aware of the "social role" of their activity. "It’s a living profession! We listen, we talk a lot, too much sometimes… !", smiles Emmanuel. They are even invited to lunch with clients. The price of paper and books is increasing. "We fight, we work a lot, but we are in balance. We are passionate.

 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, comics by Jancovici, ecology…   

In the proliferation of new products, the press and literary broadcasts are compasses. "We are big readers. But there are so many publications… I read a lot The world of books, Télérama. I watch the shows where authors are invited." The bookstore also organizes signings with writers, meetings requested by the Bagnolais, "but sometimes the public does not come in large numbers& quot;. Some shelves are a hit (see box), as are books on ecology and permaculture. "At the moment, we are also asked a lot about "What do I know" about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." Their best seller 2023 is the comic strip by Christophe Blain and Jean-Marc Jancovici Le monde sans fin. Their recent favorites: As a guest by Peter Kurzeck (Éditions L’extreme contemporain), "the German Proust, says Emmanuel. It had never been translated. This author, who died ten years ago, lived the last twenty years of his life in Uzès. Pierre, for his part, dove with delight into Boualem Sansal's latest novel, Vivre : le countdown.

At the top of sales: literary prizes, regional section, comics…

Comics and manga are still on the rise. The new Asterix and the new Gaston Lagaffe were a hit. The children's book section is also doing well. Among the sure values, there are the books crowned with literary prizes, the Goncourt, the Prix Femina which also won the Goncourt for high school students (Triste tigre de Neige Sinno), were sold a lot in Bagnols. "We also sold a lot Humus by Gaspard Koenig (in the running for the Goncourt), the authors Ken Follet and Harlan Coben. The big names are expected." Pocket books are also at the top of the market. As for the section on books about the region or by authors from the region, it is doing well, "there is no peak but it’s regular”. Readers bought in numbers the book on high school, by Francis Scarella, Lycée de Bagnols-sur-Cèze, chronicle of the 60s~60s~/em>, as well as as that of the former fire chief Dominique Pagès Last quarter of the last century, the last firefighters of Bagnols, and Les loups de Valbonne and the Black Queen by Maurice Navarro.