Booking a place in the market
Bookstores specializing in foreign literature first appeared in the Polish market in the early 1990s. Today the foreign literature market is worth at least zł.150 million, and some estimates put its value as high as zł.200 million.
The market is steadily growing, especially because the competition is much more complex nowadays. Chain stores such as Empik have started to put more care into their foreign-language sections and several new foreign-language bookstores have opened. In addition, many bookshops selling mainly Polish language books have started to sell small numbers of non-Polish literature, in particular concentrating on language textbooks.
"The market is on the move because people in Poland need to learn languages more and more. Thus, we are experiencing a constant increase of language-related books sales," the general manager at foreign-language chain Bookland, Małgorzata Ryll, says.
Bookland has 20 stores, five of them in Warsaw, and is going to open new stores in the years to come. Another foreign-language book chain, American Bookstore, has seven stores in Warsaw, the most recent opening just last year. As these small shops stocking non-Polish books continue to grow, older, more established chains are being forced to speed up their development in the sector.
"EMPiK has had foreign language books since its very beginning in 1992," the director of EMPiK's book section, Krzysztof Gutowski, says. "The level of sales of non-Polish books is constantly rising and I can describe it as a significant part of our revenues.
"We are also planning to develop our range in this field, either in the number of titles or categories," Gutowski adds.
Bookstores selling non-Polish books in Warsaw
American Bookshop
Koszykowa 55 st.
Wołoska 12 st.
Powsińska 31 st.
Al. Jana Pawła II 82 st.
Al. Jerozolimskie 179 st.
Ul. Nowy wiat 61 st.
Ph.: 0 22 660 56 37
Bookland
al. Jerozolimskie 61 st.
Garibaldiego 4 lok. 14f. st.
Aleje Niepodległoci 121/123 st.
Hoża 19 st.
Ph.: 0 22 625 41 46
Co-Liber
pl. Bankowy 4
Ph.: 0 22 828 05 88
EMPiK
Nowy wiat 15/17 st.
Marszałkowska 116/122 st.
Aleje Jerozolimskie 179 st.
Górczewska 124 st.
Mickiewicza 27 st.
Al. Jana Pawła II 82 st.
Ostrobramska 75c st.
Wołoska 12 st.
Powsińska 31 st.
Ph.: 0 22 551 33 99
Leksykon Bookstore
Nowy wiat 41 st.
Ph.: 0 22 826 45 33
Traffic Club
Bracka 25 st.
Ph.: 0 22 692 14 50
