One of the most iconic shops in Paris, the Shakespeare and Company bookshop, has sent out an SOS to its customers, stating that its sales are down nearly 80% since March. The Parisian bookstore told customers it was looking at “hard times” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially given that France looks set to enter a second lockdown.
An email to its customers read: “Like many independent businesses, we are struggling, trying to see a way forward during this time when we’ve been operating at a loss.” Adding that the store would be “especially grateful for new website orders from those of you with the means and interest to do so”.
The famed bookshop was first opened in 1919 by the American-born bookseller and publisher Sylvia Beach, who spent much of her life in Paris. In the early 20th century, the store has been visited by the likes of F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, TS Eliot, and James Joyce. The modern-day version of the shop was opened by George Whitman in 1951, who imagined it as a “socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore”. Writers are even encouraged to sleep among the shelves in exchange for helping out with the store, and over 30,000 people, nicknamed ‘Tumbleweeds’ by Whitman, have done so over the years.
Speaking to The Guardian, Whitman’s granddaughter, Sylvia Whitman, said: “We’re not closing our doors, but we’ve gone through all of our savings. We are 80% down since the beginning of the first wave. We’ve now gone through all of the bookshop savings, which we were lucky to build up, and we have also been making use of the support from the government, and especially the furlough scheme. But it doesn’t cover everything, and we’ve delayed quite a lot of rent that we have.”
The bookshop closed for two months earlier this year during France’s initial lockdown and opted not to sell any books online following advice from trade body the Syndicat de la librairie française. The store now waits with bated breath for the latest lockdown news from the French government, though a second closure is expected.
“Right now our cafe and bookshop is open, but it’s looking like we will have to close both because bookshops are considered non-essential,” said Whitman. “The one big difference is that we’re adamant this time we’re going to be ready to keep the website open.”
There is some good news, however, since its appeal, the store has been inundated with support from its customers, including plenty of orders, one of which came from an old Tumbleweed who spent €1,000 for three subscriptions to the shop’s Year of Reading offer.
“I think it’s going to give us a real boost in getting through this next chapter,” said Whitman. “We haven’t said anything publicly before because we just feel so aware everyone is in difficult situations. We just want to ask people to help us do what we do, which is sell books – we don’t want to just say, ‘OK, open your wallet and give us money.’ It’s like, ‘Look, here’s what we have on our shelves. Here are some of the lovely rare books that we have. And it would be amazing if you could get one now.’”
The famed Parisian bookstore is not the first to appeal for support, earlier this month, the iconic New York bookshop The Strand announced it too was facing serious difficulty due to the pandemic and received almost $200,000 worth of orders from its customers.
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