The Ona bookstore in Gran de Gràcia closes permanently.

BarcelonaThe Ona bookstore in Gran de Gràcia, in Barcelona, ​​​​is closing its doors permanently, according to theIndependent of GraceThe store, founded in 1962 on Gran Via, was one of the iconic symbols of the dissemination of books in Catalan and had been rescued in 2010, three years after closing due to the financial difficulties of the distributor L'Arc de Berà SA, the owner of the building. The bookstore, relocated to number 217 Gran de Gràcia and with the financial boost of entrepreneur Tatxo Benet, is now experiencing a second end of its era, six months after the death of the historic bookseller. Montserrat Úbeda, daughter of one of the three founders of L'Arc de Berà, Jordi Úbeda, who had worked at the store since his adolescence.

The Úbeda family was unaware of the closure and, in fact, according to the weekly, the last news they had was that Tatxo Benet was considering changing the name of the store to Montserrat Úbeda. Finally, it seems that the decision is final and Gràcia loses a bookstore on its main street. Benet, who this week was dismissed from the company he founded, Mediapro, opened another bookstore in 2020 to Pau ClarisWhile the first Ona was born as a combat tool to revitalize Catalan during the Franco regime, its older sister redoubled its activism and sold titles only in Catalan. Despite their names, the two bookstores operated as separate businesses, and Ona Pau Claris declined to comment.