The Gremi de Llibreters has presented the campaign Combat the dystopia, choose the bookstore to combat nearly twenty practices that threaten the sector, with a manifesto to which more than 300 bookstores have already adhered. The initiative denounces public procurement, discounts, and direct sales that, in the organization's opinion, leave out the network of establishments.
The paradox posed by the guild appears at the center of its message. The same law that seeks to protect bookstore diversity coexists, according to the entity, with legal and illegal practices that sideline bookstores from libraries, administrations, educational centers, and family associations.
More than 300 bookstores support a manifesto against discounts and direct sales
The document, available at trialallibreria.cat, is structured around three axes. The first points to public procurement by libraries and administrations that exclude bookstores. The second points to illegal discounts that divert book purchases. The third denounces direct sales that bypass these businesses.
During the presentation, Eric del Arco, president of the Gremi de Llibreters, positioned the campaign as a response to a problem that the sector has been facing for years. The leader maintained that the guild has decided to intensify its action after a period of warnings.
"Can you imagine a country without bookstores? We believe we still have time to avoid this future and combat this dystopian scenario" - Eric del Arco, president of the Gremi de Llibreters
Del Arco specified that some of the detected practices violate regulations. He cited, in particular, publishers who sell directly to educational centers and AFA's, as well as bookstores that apply discounts above what is set by the Book Law.
The guild maintains that the law protects the bookstore network but does not prevent it from being excluded
Alongside these behaviors, the guild president included others that are legal but, in his assessment, damage the sector's balance. He frames operations that remove bookstores from relevant sales circuits, even though the regulation aims to preserve this commercial capillarity.
The campaign is not conceived as a one-off action. The Gremi de Llibreters positions it for the medium and long term and wants to work with authors, distributors, readers, administrations, libraries, and educational centers to modify these practices.
In the same appearance, Del Arco summarized the change of phase with another statement. He said that, after years of warning about the consequences of these practices, the sector has now opted to take a step further.
"But today, here, we have decided to take a step further" - Eric del Arco, president of the Gremi de Llibreters
The president of the Gremi de Llibreters added that some actions, although they fit within legality, endanger the diversity of the bookseller network that the law wants to protect and that this network provides, in his words, a general social benefit.
Del Arco closed the presentation with an idea that the guild repeats as a warning and objective of the campaign: "We believe that we still have time to avoid this future without bookstores."