The primed bookstore before its last Fira del Llibre

Valencia. Every year the Fira del Llibre welcomes thousands of people who, among the booths, look for a book to adopt forever, or one to give and dedicate to a friend. For this to be possible, a huge chain has to occur that gives rise to this emotional transaction – economic – and also literary. first a writer must have an idea, find an editorial and after months and even years of work to make it published. Then the books arrive at the libraries that are later part of the fairs. This year the Primado Bookstore breaks, for the first time, that chain. This 60th edition of the Fira del Llibre de València will be its last, because the bookstore closes its doors at the end of May, after more than forty years active they have to say goodbye. After the counter Miguel Morataone of the first owners of the bookstore explains that this farewell is loaded with memories, emotions and stories that make them face their last Fira with a lot of emotion.

“It is a sad farewell because we say goodbye to the work of forty years but we know that we have become a reference bookstore in the city of Valencia, it could be said that we were pioneers. Getting this is a great achievement, and it is even more important to recognize. Pepe Miralles, Who also goes to the Fira del Llibre to give the last goodbye to this bookstore that “has given them so much.” When he took the relay immediately that the bookstore changed hands already turned into a unique meeting space for the residents of the neighborhood. As Morata explains one of the keys to the primacy bookstore is that it has always offered many activities: from presentations to signatures, through workshops and other encounters. In his “time” he came to coordinate up to 750 activities, which would have to be added those that Miralles has been organizing in these last five years.

“The primacy has always been a very special space, it is a place with a lot of background and with a lot of activity and that has been able to adapt to the new times. It also comforts to see how in the city they have opened many new spaces that focus on attending to new types of readers and public, Valencia has a good legacy,” explains Miralles, who knows that their readers were more to look for recommendations than the latest editorial novelties. “We have less news, although you can ask, but a very worked fund and program. Year after year customers have continued to trust us, the work of the bookseller and everything we recommend. The real challenge is to know what we are selling to be able to recommend something concrete.”

Contemplating the booths that surround him, some new and others of large Miralles chains want new booksellers to maintain that trade while “maintain their focus on social networks.” “I think that small bookstores can do it but in the chains it is impossible. We can look through what we know, what we have read and what our readers likes, the bookcase’s trade goes far beyond attending to the client,” explains this bookseller who sees many known and new faces in this last and crowded edition of the Fira del Llibre. Next to its side Morata explains that the bookstore has also been able to adapt to the new times and that the reason for its farewell, far from fatigue, comes for a reason that surpasses them economically.

When they close their booth in the FIRA, the partners of the Primado Bookstore have to face the reality of “returning” the place to its owner after Miralles’ retirement this year. “The bookstore has a very good background and structure so retirement is not a problem for the closure, but the owner prefers money to wait for the relay. The person who wants the premises would have to assume the new price indicated but it is difficult to find a bookseller who wants to assume all this, I did have ten years less or think about it,” explains Miralles, who admits that he has received some offers to enter the free clear.

“The city knows this space as the primacy library but we have to negotiate with the owner, for the moment we have nothing left to say goodbye,” says Miralles, who along with Morata sees the Fira as a good place to feel wrapped up by her readers among the nurseries. In this way, the primate library says goodbye after forty years of activity, more than a thousand activities behind the back and with the certainty that they have made history in the city of Valencia. A recognition they receive through readers who approach this Fira, for the last time, to say goodbye to the booksellers but will always keep their books and stories on their shelves.