At the beginning, Librairie Française opened a store in the passage between Place d'Armes and Place Guillaume II. Later, the shop moved next to the Post building in the capital. However, the rent agreement is set to expire in summer 2021, and the owners are not looking to renew the lease.
What are the reasons for the closure of the traditional bookshop? Are people buying fewer books or only buying them online? Is it related to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns? Or has the capital simply become less attractive than it used to be?
Our colleagues from RTL talked to shop owner Carole Mersch: "There was only one individual interested in taking over the shop. However, when I told him the price of the rent at the moment, and the new price once it has been raised, he no longer pursued the case. On top of that, he later contracted Covid, which is why the agreement never came into existence. Also, our city is no longer attractive due to all the construction sites."
Other bookshops in Luxembourg have been plagued with similar problems. Anne Diderich is the third generation to run a store in Esch-sur-Alzette. Her grandmother first opened the store in 1945, even before the end of the war. Years later, the granddaughter received the chance to take over the bookshop, a decision she has not regretted since, although it has not always been easy.
