Paris Librairies and DRAC Île-de-France Launch New Study on Regional Bookstores
Paris, May 27 – More than ten years after the socio-economic analysis of the regional bookstore offering conducted by MOTif, the former observatory of books and writing in Île-de-France, the association Paris Librairies and the Drac Île-de-France have joined forces to launch a new study dedicated to Ile-de-France bookstores. Led by the firm Axiales, this field survey will involve a questionnaire distributed from the end of May to a wide panel of booksellers. Its conclusions are expected in autumn 2026.
“In a particularly fragile economic context for bookstores, it is even more necessary to update and objectify data in Île-de-France. Better understanding the economic, territorial, and human realities of Ile-de-France bookstores is now essential to identify their needs and to be able to implement adapted responses,” stated the initiating organizations in a press release.
Updating Data on Ile-de-France Bookstores
Designed in close collaboration with bookstores, the study aims to analyze the diversity of establishments, their economic dynamics, and their territorial distribution “with a particular focus on the most fragile areas.” The objective is to “better support booksellers, including those in training, and better inform institutional partners,” in a context particularly unfavorable to these essential actors of bibliodiversity.
Thanks to extensive fieldwork, the survey intends to produce “reference data,” which has been absent from the editorial landscape since the MOTif report was released in 2015. At that time, the report counted 1382 book sales points, including 563 creative bookstores and 62 cultural hypermarkets in Île-de-France. It also noted a significant concentration of sales points in the French capital.
In the Parisian agglomeration outside Paris, the study nevertheless found an equivalent number of communes with bookstores and communes without them. MOTif also highlighted the causal link between the flourishing of bookstores and the cultural vitality of a city, emphasizing the central role of public authorities in fostering this climate.
This new study is being conducted in dialogue with numerous industry partners, including the Île-de-France Region, the City of Paris, FILL, the French Booksellers’ Union, the National Book Centre, Dilicom, and APUR.
Source: https://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/paris-librairies-et-la-drac-ile-de-france-lancent-une-nouvelle-etude-sur-les-librairies
