The bookstore El Genet Blau in Lleida will close in mid-next month, when the project will have completed 25 years of activity and barely a year since its move to Blondel street. The owner and founder, Mertxe París, has announced the end of the commercial stage after weeks of farewells with her regular readers.
The closure comes at a time of good business performance, not due to a drop in activity. París states that she has chosen to close precisely now to focus on the editorial line and cultural services that the team already develops outside the physical store.
"It has been a very thoughtful and conscious decision" - Mertxe París, founder and owner of El Genet Blau
París leaves the store when she says the project is going through a good moment
The bookseller explains that the decision responds to a change in professional priorities. In her view, maintaining a physical store limits them greatly compared to the development of editorial and reading promotion projects that already occupy a central part of their activity.
"We are making this decision now, when we are in a good moment, because we want to prioritize our editorial side and cultural services. We believe that maintaining a physical store limits us greatly" - Mertxe París, founder and owner of El Genet Blau
During these 25 years, El Genet Blau has promoted the Lletra Petita and Sant Miquel de les Lletres festivals. It has also managed reading promotion initiatives with city councils throughout Catalonia, a line of work that will remain active after the closure of the Blondel street premises.
París, an Arab philologist, also plans to collaborate with a publishing house from the United Arab Emirates in its entry into the Hispanic market. This project will involve frequent trips to the Middle East, a requirement that is difficult to reconcile with the daily management of a bookstore open to the public.
El Genet Blau will maintain editorial activity and publish four albums in September
The continuity of the project will be through publishing and cultural services. In September, the publication of the collection of four illustrated albums Contes de la Vall Amagada, by the cartoonist Carles Porta, is planned, a work that until now only had an English version.
The response from customers has accompanied the announcement of the closure. París assures that the messages received after communicating the news on the bookstore's social media have had a special emotional charge after a quarter of a century of relationship with several generations of readers in Lleida.
"We had never dreamed of having a bookstore and these years managing it we have been very happy" - Mertxe París, founder and owner of El Genet Blau
Until June 15, the establishment will apply discounts of 5% on books and between 10% and 20% on toys.