Booksellers report dramatic sales drop during Olympic Games

In Paris, booksellers have reported significant sales drops during the 2024 Olympic Games, reports the Bookseller.

English-language Abbey Bookshop in the city’s Latin Quarter reported sales on the Monday before the Games opened were just 15% of those on the equivalent Monday a year earlier, and since May, the store has not reached 50% of earnings for the same period in 2023. 

Overall, in the week before the Games opened, the French Booksellers Association (Syndicat de la librairie française, SLF) said Paris members’ sales were down by an average of 11% over the same period.

Frédérique Aubier, manager of specialist bookshop Le Piéton de Paris, said only 10 people visited the shop during the 10 days leading up to the event, saying, ‘If I had known, I would have gone away on holiday’.

Abbey Bookshop owner Brian Spence told the Bookseller that confusion over traffic and public transport restrictions in Paris affected sales. ‘It was like a ghost town and was sort of depressing,’ said Spence. Of the effect of the Paralympic Games Spence said: ‘I expect it to be like the World Cup—you gain a bit and lose a bit. In other words, it should be neutral.’

The next Olympic Games will be held in Los Angeles in the US in 2028, followed by the 2032 event in Brisbane, Australia.

Category: International news