Sin Tarima Libros

When you think about your business, what are you most proud of?

We are proud to have been able to carve out a niche for ourselves in the world of bookshops while maintaining our autonomy and independence, and to have established networks with other bookshops and certain publishers, small and not so small, to mutually help us to sustain and remain in such a beautiful and sometimes difficult profession. We are also very proud to have managed to take the relationship with regular customers and neighbours of the neighbourhood beyond the commercial relationship, thanks in large part to the large number of presentations, cultural events, workshops, talks, small theatrical and musical performances, audiovisual projections, etc. that we have been developing since the beginning of our work. We believe that little by little, and like many small neighbourhood bookshops, we have become a point of reference for cultural activity in the area. We are also proud of many of the activities we have hosted and of the people who have passed through our house, such as the poet Marcos Ana or Dr. Luis Montes.

What is the history of your commerce?

Sin Tarima Libros began its journey back in 2008 in calle Príncipe, 9, next to Plaza de Santa Ana. In the beginning it was a generalist bookshop working with all kinds of books. Five years later, in 2013, Sin Tarima Libros moved to another premises, fortunately very close by, at number 12, Príncipe Street. And coinciding with this move, we opened more or less at the same time, at 17 Príncipe Street, Con Tarima Libros, a bookshop specialising in plastic arts, theatre, cinema, photography and music. Thus, Sin Tarima Libros is specialising in narrative, poetry, childrens books, history and thought. In 2016, Sin Tarima Libros moved again, this time to calle Magdalena, 32, where it is currently located and hopefully for many years to come. In this premises there is a basement that looks as if it could have been used both as a wine cellar and as an anti-aircraft bunker during the war, which we affectionately know as La Cueva, and which is where we hold all our cultural activities.

What is your professional experience?

Before working as a bookseller in Sin Tarima Libros and Con Tarima Libros, I worked as a video editor in an audiovisual production company, although I had always had a relationship with the world of books, as I had been working for years in book fairs, especially in Madrid, but also in others such as Alcalá de Henares or Granada. I have also done small jobs with distributors such as Disbook or Barataria.
When the opportunity arose to work in a bookshop that also had a very familiar organisation, I didnt hesitate, and over time, my involvement in the management has increased a lot, taking care of buying and selling, relations with sales people, use of the website and social networks, etc. Being self-employed was more of a requirement than a desire.

How has covid 19 affected your business?

Since the beginning of the State of Alarm on 14 March, we have been closed for almost two months, during which time we have only attended to home deliveries with the bookshop closed to the public. From Monday 4 May we began to serve by appointment and on an individual basis, and since Monday 18 May we have been able to open on a slightly more regular basis, without the need for an appointment, but with limited seating capacity. Also during this period, and it is not known for how long, we have not been able to carry out any type of activity (presentations, workshops, book clubs, conferences) for security reasons. As a result, our income has fallen drastically, at a time when we have not been able to celebrate Book Day or the Madrid Book Fair, two dates marked in red in the sector, especially the latter as it represents a very high percentage of the annual turnover of bookshops. For all these reasons, we have been forced to carry out an ERTE for the workers, without which it is almost certain that we would have had to close.