Despite fixed price laws and the notable absence of Amazon from the Portuguese book scene, indie bookstores are struggling to compete with the bigger chains, and are uniting to seek assistance from the state.
Independent Portuguese booksellers from Lisbon, Aveiro and Sines joined forces to call for state intervention to protect them from the country’s large retail chains, Bertrand, Fnac and Grupo Sonae (Continent).
Bookseller Vitor Rodrigues, of Leituria, in the area of Estefânia in the Portuguese capital, lamented that the fixed price law and restrictions on discounting was insufficient to protect smaller players against the big chains which, it was claimed, disregard the 25 days per year sales limit that the smaller stores observe, implying the bigger chains dumped stock at cheap prices when it suited them.
Currently only three booksellers are active in this campaign, but it is expected momentum will build and other indie booksellers will come on board in what is being talked of as a fight for survival.
Público
