Sylvain Descours had the audacity to open his doors in the middle of a pandemic, in mid-October 2020, with the sword of Damocles hanging over his head. It seems that the project was ripe. “It’s a long-held dream, cherished and polished. I was more than ready, and I did my homework,” the owner and bookseller seriously emphasizes. “I approached local authors like David Goudreault and Mathieu K. Blais, who care about the influence of independent bookstores and who know the market. And to take the pulse, I approached Littérature et autres niaiseries,” a diverse group representative of the local cultural scene. A good sounding board to assess the market potential, which confirmed that Sherbrooke, a young city with a generous personality, was ready to welcome a general and independent bookstore on its main street. “It was expected,” emphasizes Sylvain. "At the opening, the media were there, then word of mouth did its work. We were able to rely on a large amount of sympathy."

“Meeting people and books”

With David Lessard-Gagnon, a bookseller, they have already established a great relationship with their customers. "It's important for us to put forward our expertise," says Sylvain. "Listening to readers, to our customers, is at the heart of our business." The inventory is carefully chosen. "We promote major titles and new releases like all bookstores of course, but we particularly like to share and promote books that sometimes go unnoticed and that deserve to be read. We do our research. That's our signature," he emphasizes. A great relationship of mutual complicity has been established: "we feed off our customers' discoveries. Sometimes we go beyond specific orders, so that the bookstore can also have on its shelves several copies of a book that touched one of our customers, to make it available to more people."

A unique cultural place

Without advertising or even a website, the small business managed to attract local customers in record time. Essential between two lockdowns, by the way. David Lessard explains: "a bookstore is a living environment that carries a mix of mandates. It is a business, but also a cultural and even human vector, because it aims to be a meeting place." Making it a lively and friendly place, a key ingredient that makes the Appalaches bookstore what it is: a place of exchange where reading takes on its full meaning, cocooning included, with the fitting rooms converted into reading corners. Book launches, openings, cultural programs, conferences have their place there, with the displays and shelves designed on wheels.

Counting on the local purchasing wave

If with the restrictions, rummaging, exchanging, doing autograph sessions, quickly became unthinkable, the entrepreneurs remained hopeful. The promotion in favor of local purchases provided a great motivation to encourage the neighborhood bookstore. Orders have hardly slowed down. "As long as we could stay open, and even with a limited window, customers continued to come. And even at a slower pace since January, it continues." Willingly or not, booksellers are sparing no effort to reach out to their customers. Picking up prepaid orders at the door or, outside of hours, at the local café, free delivery on Thursdays (within a limited radius), almost daily favorites shared on the Facebook page, and personalized service over the phone.

“Confinement, fertile ground for bookstores”

The book chain, from publishers to distributors, printers to librarians, has certainly been shaken by the crisis. But with entertainment cancelled, postponed or relegated to digital, books have remained a safe haven, according to the Association des librairies du Québec . Finally, sales at independent bookstores are better than last year, according to the Société de gestion de la Banque des titres de langue francophone . Many have been able to focus on online sales via the Les libraires website (which Appalaches plans to join soon). Those who, like our two booksellers, have found ways to keep books from gathering dust during these times of confinement have managed to save them from the pandemic.