175 years have passed since the inauguration of the oldest bookstore in Spain, which remains in the city of Burgos. Several economic crises, five generational changes and even two strong pandemics later, the Spanish flu and COVID, and there it continues. The Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez bookstore has never stopped providing service since 1850 and it seems that for now it will continue like this for a few more years.
It survives in a context of declining number of bookstores in Spain (6.2% in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the most recent data from CEGAL) but of general growth of companies: higher turnover, more square meters dedicated to book sales, more jobs. That is to say: large stores are doing better than small businesses.
The little ones are more defenseless in the face of adversity. Real estate speculation is the main obstacle. Like Sant Jordi in Barcelona, which receives burofaxes from the investment fund that owns the property on Ferran Street announcing rent increases. Like Traficantes de Sueños in Madrid, which has been able to stay in its location in the La Latina neighborhood thanks to a crowdfunding to buy the building. On the other hand, Desperate Literature, despite the crowdfunding which it carried out on its part, will also have to abandon its location in the center of Madrid.
Lucía Alonso, current manager of what holds the title of the oldest bookstore in Spain, is the sixth generation to take charge of the bookstore that her ancestor Santiago Rodríguez once founded. It started as a printing workshop and a publishing house and, little by little, it has managed to carve out a niche for itself as the reference bookstore for the majority of people from Burgos. A long history at the service of letters from which important collections of books and small objects are still preserved today, such as the telephone on which calls were answered, whose number has also been preserved.
Alonso’s bookstore has not only been relevant for six generations of his family, it has also been relevant for the people of Burgos in the area, who still remember hearing about it in the words of their ancestors. “Great-great-grandparents of current buyers already came to our bookstore, that creates a bond. Furthermore, not only neighbors come, but also people from outside who come here as a mandatory stop,” says its owner in conversation with elDiario.es.
Having the title of the oldest bookstore in Spain, in addition to being a responsibility, is also an attraction. This is what Alonso tells it, who says he has observed an increase in visits to his bookstore since it has received more promotion on social networks: “There is a very specific tourism, bookstore tourism, that when they visit cities they go to establishments like ours.” , details.
But Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez is not the only bookstore with important history behind it. Illustrious literary figures such as Antonio Machado have passed through the Las Heras bookstore in Soria, who according to César Millán, current manager, “came to buy the paper on which he wrote his works.” “An elderly person once came to see the bookstore where his grandfather once worked. He told us that one of his grandfather’s teachers asked him for paper to write on. It turns out that that teacher was Antonio Machado,” says Millán.
The Las Heras bookstore has been serving since 1860 as a “cultural point where great intellectuals meet and gather.” Since then, Millán explains that he wanted to preserve the true and ancient function of the bookseller beyond selling books, that of recommender. “For me, we are a kind of pharmacy of the soul. Long-time booksellers were not only salespeople. It is very important to know how to recommend a good book,” he details for this medium.
In addition to customer service, the Las Heras bookstore continues to preserve its identity thanks to its entrance door. A classic façade that catches the eye of everyone who passes through the center of Soria and that serves as a perfect complement to the “smell of paper and old aesthetics” that attracts tourism to the area. They have also kept the old cash register and walnut counters, original from the 19th century.
Another bookstore that has survived time is that of Eugenia Pujol, which although it does not hold the title of the oldest, is not far behind. In fact, it is in Barcelona. The name of its business, Fabre, has been and is a reference for generations of residents of all the locations through which this establishment has passed during its more than 160 years of history. The most remembered of its premises is the one that was once on Rambla de Catalunya, an enclave for which this bookstore is still remembered today.
“There are people who come and tell us that when they were children they went to the bookstore with their grandparents to buy their textbooks. Now, they are the grandparents who accompany their grandchildren to buy them school supplies. “That’s very nice,” his manager, Eugenia Pujol, details for elDiario.es.
The Fabre bookstore, now located in Barcelona’s Eixample, has a particularity compared to the rest that, due to its history, has been preserved to this day. The business has a strong German tradition due to the origin of one of its past owners, Eugenia’s husband’s grandmother. Since then, this bookstore has continued to preserve this heritage to the point of calling itself a German bookstore and selling books in that language or typical wooden figurines.
They have also preserved procedures and objects from their past history. An example of this is the furniture, which Eugenia explains that she did not want to get rid of, keeping the counter or the door from decades ago. The way of taking care of the details also comes from years ago: “Pilar, the previous manager who has just retired, had been making the windows in the same way for 40 years. My husband’s grandmother hired her and she has dedicated herself to it ever since. Many people know us through the shop windows and that creates a very special bond,” says Pujol.
The crisis, also in books, of 2008
These historic bookstores, despite being located in different cities, have a lot in common. All of them have gone through difficult circumstances that have complicated their survival. Its current owners remember the most recent ones. “During the economic crisis of 2008 we almost closed. The bookstore was going very badly, we even had to put money in so as not to end its history. I decided to take charge of it myself, even though it belonged to my husband’s family, and with a few changes in distribution and lighting things improved significantly,” explains Fabre’s manager.
The history of the Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez bookstore has not been simple either: “Crises like the one in 2008, which hit us closer, greatly affected our business. Also COVID. In moments like those I thought about how my ancestors would spend it so that I would never close,” explains Alonso. “COVID was a difficult time, but we didn’t want to leave our neighbors without books. We set up a website with what we had in the bookstore and, with a shopping cart, I delivered the orders door to door,” she recalls.
Faced with these economic problems, there is another more specific one for this type of family business, that of generational change. That is the problem that made Loave close in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo), after 72 years of history. Or that forced the owner of San Andrés, open for 24 years in Pola de Allande/La Puela (Asturias), to offer the transfer on social networks when the time came for his retirement. Putting an end to a family inheritance of more than 100 years is not an easy decision: the Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez bookstore was on the verge of closing, but they managed to find a solution: “When my grandfather died, no one could take charge at that time. We decided to have a manager take charge. It was not closed and then it was run by our family again,” explains Alonso.
The case of the Las Heras bookstore is different, which is no longer in the hands of the founding family, but continues to maintain the same essence thanks to the fact that its current manager, César Millán, has been in contact with the business for several decades.
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