“Aida Libros is very popular among our clients and also the neighbours. After all she is Aída, the soul of this place.”
Aida Libros - Asunción, Paraguay
The name of the bookstore is Aída Libros, my mother’s name. We are located on Charles de Gaulle street (in Spanish we would say casi Castillo) in Villa Morra, Asunción, Paraguay.
It all started around 15 years ago, I can’t tell you the exact day, even my mother is not sure.
My mother is a teacher, and after she retired, she used to have a drugstore downtown our city, but then she had a cardiovascular accident and so she couldn’t attend the drugstore anymore, but my father build for her a shop so she wouldn’t get depressed at home. At first she sold gifts and stationary, pencils and similar, but then one of her grandson suggest why don’t you sell second hand books. At home, we all love to read, and of course my house is full of books, it is still bookful.
So we started with around 300 books, specially novels, some were also in English – I’m absolutely guilty of that part- and so that way the books started to come and go, some people bring their book and we bought them, and then other people bought from us… Now we have around 10.000 books or more, I’m working on the inventory… We have many kind of books novels of any genre, self-help books, religion books, some biographies, Paraguayan books, books for children, books in other language like English, German, Italian, Portugues and also French. Is just amazing the story those books could tell… I found some books that said came from Pretoria, South Africa!
My mother is very popular among our clients and also the neighbour, and some for her old students still bring her gift for teachers day.. In 2014 my mother who is also a diabetes patient started to have kidney problems to the point she needs dialysis three times a week, so I have to quick my previous job and take over the business because my mother is disabled now. She still give me advices about our bookstore, and people always ask me how is she. After all she is Aída, the soul of this place.
~ Roxana Elizeche (owner)
Address: Charles de Gaulle street, Villa Morra, Asunción, Paraguay
Hours: 9am – 6pm Mon – Sat
Facebook: Aida Libros