In Barcelona, we are in luck because, despite the crisis and the dismal reading rates, bookstores continue to open. One of the latest is Obaga, on Girona street 179, next to the cinemas, born to supply written drug to readers on the right side of the Eixample. I approach the day after the famous inauguration, with hundreds of people invading the bike lane, because I want them to explain the steps to follow to open a bookstore. How many months in advance did they prepare it? Is it necessary to have a master's degree to be a bookseller? And the bureaucracy, has it been very heavy?
Dioni Porta and Carol Porta, the suicidal couple behind this shadowy bookstore, tell me about it. They decided last December, after years of mulling over the idea. Because they don't come from the sector: they are just book lovers who wanted to go beyond reading them. The leap into the void would not have been possible without the help of other colleagues in the guild, such as Jordi from Taïfa and Albert from Atzavara, who explained how the business works and assured them that it is possible to live (modestly) from it. From Obaga, they are surprised by this guild solidarity, and while we do this interview, colleagues from Llibreria Sendak will come in to congratulate them: their advice has also been fundamental.They were looking for a place near home, in Baix Guinardó, but they decided on Girona with Còrsega because they didn't want to settle near any other bookstore and harm its owners. It has been a success: people keep coming in to congratulate them because "a bookstore was needed in the neighborhood." The numbers and the business plan have been Dioni's thing, who is an accountant: he confesses that they have had to extend the mortgage on the house where they live to face the investment. According to Carol, the bureaucracy has not been anything out of this world either. She will be in charge of the day-to-day, and hopes to take advantage of the dead hours to settle into the armchair and enjoy reading. What more could you want?, I think to myself: all booksellers think they will have time to read!
It took them three months to get the place ready. They did it themselves: one has to imagine Dioni (who has vertigo) climbing a ladder to tear down the entire false ceiling. As they had to do a new electrical installation (one of those unforeseen events), they recruited friends and relatives to paint, and also pulled in friends to alphabetize the shelves: you, the A; you, the B; you, the C. "What would we do without friends?" laughs Carol.
To be able to allocate most of the investment to book stocks, the furniture also had to be low cost: all the shelves are recycled, bought in Els Encants or found on the street; but there's no need to worry, they cleaned them well and the result is impressive. However, until they started placing the books, people would come in thinking they sold old furniture.
Finally, they had to choose the merchandise, a "very wild" process done against the clock: in a few hours they had to review the 20,000 titles offered by a distributor like Les Punxes and decide which books they wanted. "We opted for authors we already knew, either because we had read them or because we knew their quality." And the choice is a success: they have titles in Catalan and Spanish mixed, and they will pay special attention to small local publishers, with some thematic tables. A week before opening, the boxes of books began to arrive, and as they unpacked them, social media filled with messages of encouragement and congratulations. On September 1st, they paused to catch their breath, and the next day the first buyers began to appear.