Talking shop with the staff at Libreria……
Picking up where we left off on the previous post, here’s a convo I had with the lovely book seller….
What made you open a place like this? How are people responding to it?
People love the thematic shelving, It takes some people a while to get used to but then they love it. The idea is to get readers to find books similar to ones they already love or find new titles they may never have tried before. The shop is designed to encourage interdisciplinary thinking. Everything in the shop is curated to make readers happy with quality. We wouldn’t have, for example, Fifty Shades which was a massive seller but people wouldn’t necessarily come here to look for a book like that.
How are you finding competing with major bookstores/ Amazon?
We tend to go for books we think our readers would like or we would like for interest and depth. Some titles may not be stocked elsewhere. Also we wouldn’t go for Titles like Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks which would be an obvious best seller but stores like Waterstone’s would buy loads and put them on sale lower than RRP so we couldn’t compete
How do you usually decide what to stock each week?
I look at sales every day and order on stats. We read a lot of books and order small numbers of lesser known books that We think might sell well and monitor sales.
What kind of events do you have?
Check out our Events page
I did- saw an enviable calendar of events that I’d sadly missed- including book signings and Zine/Risograph events in the print workshop downstairs
Bookseller’s upcoming releases to look forward to:
September/October are peak publishing months for Christmas sales so there are quite a few coming up. Merve Emre’s What’s Your Type and Can We All Be Feminists? edited by June Eric Udorie
Have you noticed people buying any books in particular here?
The Art Of Logic by Eugenia Cheng is quite new and keeps selling out. Against Everything by Mark Greif is a very ‘Shoreditch’ book, not selling as much though. Why I’m No longer Talking To White People About Race is a best seller here by Renni Eddo Lodge. Something I wish I’d read in college. My Year Of Rest And Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh is doing really well here . Classics don’t sell well too well, but there has to be a few here- it looks reputable! We dont stock that many.
Bookseller’s recommended/favourite books:
Don’t really have a favourite book but if I had to pick The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas de is very good. It’s a historical novel about Tulipmania in the 17th century. The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner is a recent one that I’d recommend
Bookseller’s other favourite bookshop:
It’s hard to pick a favourite. It would be easier to pick a favourite gallery. The Strand bookshop in New York is great. Hatchards in Piccadilly is a good one
Buy a yellow book/ book I wouldn’t usually read: I bought The Art Of Logic by Eugenia Cheng – haven’t read a non fiction in a while!
Libreria also have a subscription option. They send you a book monthly (fiction and non fiction) based on your selected preferences
If you’re a book lover or even if you just enjoy good design, I’d definitely recommend visiting
Online: Website @librerialondon
