The Sant Jordi bookstore begins a new phase without leaving the center of Barcelona.
The establishment will be transformed into a multipurpose space with cultural, literary and gastronomic offerings.
BarcelonaThe Sant Jordi bookstore is staying on Calle Ferran in Barcelona. The establishment, which has long been threatened because the building's owners wanted to raise the price exorbitantly, put its entire stock up for sale last December, after the death of the bookstore's manager, bookseller Josep Morales. At that time, Cristina Riera—Josep Morales's widow and director of the l'Alternativa Film Festival—explained that they needed to empty the bookstore before February, when the lease ended. Riera couldn't continue running the business on Ferran Street, and to support them, dozens of Barcelona residents—neighbors, friends, and readers—waited in long lines to buy lots of books.
Five months later, and just when it seemed that the Sant Jordi bookstore would become yet another tourist-oriented establishment in the center of Barcelona, the establishment has been reborn. The travel agency Tiempo de Ocio will take over and transform it into a multipurpose space that will combine books, gastronomy, and cultural activities. "The aim is to offer a lively, open, and welcoming space, designed for readers as well as for locals, visitors, and anyone who wants to connect with a piece of Barcelona's history and identity," the agency explains in a statement. The bookstore will incorporate a small café with local products.
The new managers intend to open its doors by the end of summer. The transformation project has a precedent with the travel agency: in 2019, the same company was responsible for converting the Quera bookstore on Petritxol Street—the oldest in Barcelona—into Espai Quera, which combines books, restaurants, and cultural offerings.
Founded in 1983 thanks to the drive of Josep Morales's father, the Sant Jordi bookstore offered large-format books and hard-to-find or out-of-print volumes on topics such as art, photography, design, and history, but also novels and essays. Paradoxically, when the bookstore was founded, it was in a former souvenir shop. Five decades later, the Sant Jordi bookstore has become the only non-tourist establishment on Carrer Ferran, the only one from La Rambla to Plaça Sant Jaume that isn't a bar, a restaurant, a cell phone case store, or a franchise.
