Number of bookstores per 10,000 residents falling
The number of bookstores per 10,000 residents is declining. According to the data from the National Book Store Database, in November the number of bookstores per 10,000 inhabitants amounted to 0.45, the Book Institute (IK) informed on Twitter. Since the beginning of the year, almost 120 facilities have disappeared.
At the end of September 2020, 1,975 bookstores were registered in the National Book Store Database. As explained on the IK website, "in April this year the indicator for Poland was 0.47, while in France or Germany it fluctuates around 0.7."
The National Book Store Database also provides the number of bookstores by voivodship. Most of them are in Mazowieckie – 333, Małopolskie – 186 and Śląskie – 183, the least in Lubuskie – 48, Świętokrzyskie – 36 and Opolskie – 28.
The number of independent bookstores since the inception of OBK in 2017 was higher than that of chain bookshops. In 2017, the share of non-chain bookshops was 60 percent. In the first half of 2020, the advantage over network bookstores is the highest – 62 percent, against 38 percent. Currently, 1,794 independent bookshops are registered in OBK.
(PAP)
