2023-06-02 20:01:00
In a 50 m2 room, Somphon Upravan inaugurates the first specialized comics bookshop of the department – and which was for a long time the only one in Picardy. This enthusiast has a few accomplices who share his vice: the Amiens Comic Strip Meetings will result from this common desire to promote the 9th Art and to share their pleasure in reading – provided that it contains boxes.
He himself had a first experience of commerce in a shop selling comics and records. If the culture welcomes everyone indifferently, in a trade, the products monopolize the available space. Preferring speech bubbles to grooves, Pompon Upravan drew his own, and founded Bulle en stock.
Meet at the bookstore
The following year, the RDVBD saw the light of day. ” At the time, I was one of volunteers », remembers with a smile Laurent Marioni, today owner of a bookshop which has changed a lot. “Somphon had hired me in the bookshop, I helped move boxes… He kept me while I was finishing a master’s degree in cell biology and physiology.Between the cells and the bubbles, we had to choose.
Over the years, the establishment grew:the surface increases to 130 m2, following extension works. Then, in 2018, Laurent joined forces with Quentin Tissot, who had started as an apprentice, to buy the premises. ” An obvious thing: he loves manga, I don’t know anything regarding it. Knowing the places and the clientele is not enough: you still have to take ownership of your new home. “We carried out more than €100,000 of work, above all to make it warmer, more welcoming — if only by changing the lights. »
For a few more square meters…
The window is redone, the floor, ditto. And fate is naughty: ” March 2020, confinement, it cut our legs, even if we got up very quickly. November 2020, once more. In the meantime, bookstores had become essential businesses, a healthy decision. ” Our neighbor ran a clothing store: the Covid period had exhausted her, she ran it alone, so she decided to offer a sale or rental. » Sad windfall : bargain anyway.
After some new work, Bulle en stock is getting an extra space: “We had gained 90 m2, of which 70 were entirely dedicated to manga. A modest way of presenting things: on entering the bookstore, you literally have the feeling that a single sign actually houses two bookstores: one comics and comics, the other manga. Plenty.
Amiens is better than two…
The team now consists of eleven employees and three apprentices. “This expansion of our editorial offer, from 2021, coincides with many market developments“, observes the co-manager. “As members of Canal BD, we have always looked at friends who open new shops dedicated to manga. Our luck was to recover the places at the right time, just before the market explosion. »
GfK data will not contradict this: in 2022, 85 million comics and manga found readers in France, i.e. nearly €921 million. And once more: if the 9th Art weighs for a quarter of the book market, it fell by 3% compared to 2021… But the genre from Japan stands out notably: it represents one in two comics sold. Better: six titles in the top 10 sales are manga. “We had a few years ahead, and that’s Quentin’s genius “, concedes Laurent Marioni without difficulty.
Diversify offers
Of course, the Pass Culture which will have pushed this editorial segment so much has contributed to the success. “Some colleagues assure me that this system has doubled their turnover: for us, even if it is obviously not negligible, the Pass represents 5 to 6% of turnover. ” On €2.85 million turnover in 2022 and a net result of €186k, not negligible, no, but not a tool to rely on too much either.
To initiate the future, other projects are already at work, such as the recent creation of Label Geek (14 rue des Vergeaux, Amiens). “We joke regarding it, because Bulle’s manga space in stock is very important, but it’s really our second store. ” Opened “to get closer to the city center“, it is located on the site where the Shop for Geek franchise was previously located, which will have closed down.
« Her name is Label Geek [NdR : j’ai proposé La Belle Geek, mais refusé : trop genré] and declines all geek culture, of course», Continues Laurent Marioni. Manga, Asian grocery store (there are Pokemon cans and others, for example), as well as figurines, swords. “Shop for Geek was specialized in miniatures: we took over their stock, the lease and are currently developing a new identity.“In particular by adding the universe of the Trading Card Game to the offer: Pokemon and others have a place of choice and card game tournaments will soon be organised. A complementary offer: let’s say rather, an additional presence.
RDVBD: nofrenchconnexion
The links between the Amiens festival and the bookstore are historical, fraternal and much more. Bulle en stock has always taken part in RDVBDs. Now that the event has taken up residence in the Hall Freyssinet, Bulle en stock coordinates three sales areas. “We have to get back to what we are: creators of animations. However, the Hauts-de-France Region is offering us an envelope of €5,000 as aid for distribution of reading», Explains, much more seriously, the manager.
« We reuse this money to remunerate authors, at the Charter rate, and create real events within our walls.“Why this detour? “To better explain how much Bulle en stock has events in its blood: we have always been the only bookstore partner of Rendez-vous. But we also take part in a multitude other small events on the territoryprecisely because we subscribe, to a lesser extent, to the work provided by the association We walked on the bubble [organisatrice des RDVBD, NdR]. »
The event and events
Commitment and investment are reflected in two ways: in the Hall Freyssinet, two bookstore spaces are fully devoted to the sale of books by Alex Reed authors. A third, stemming from a proposal by the Center national du livre, broadens the editorial offer, by offering works outside the festival selection. “Here, we have organized the sales areas according to the exhibitions, according to distributions which adapt so as not to be too divisive. And above all, taking into consideration the signing tables where the authors and others will meet.»
The scenography Hall Freyssinet, designed by Marc-Antoine Mathieu and his team, had already brought movement, a waveulation, making it possible to tenderly break the sensation of distance — more than 300 meters in length. “By making traffic more fluid, they proposed a solution that we are now replicating: the logistics remain, because there will be more than 80 authors during this weekend alone to take into account.“, is already sweating Laurent Marioni.
RDVBDs, quite an adventure
Thus, the two “RDVBD” bookstores offer the titles of all the authors present during the first weekend (June 3 and 4) and the last, closing weekend (24 and 25) – that is to say nearly 150 guests. And the third, aimed at opening onto the worlds of the 9th Art, itself has 2,500 references. “I have already ordered some 15,000 copies. And once more, without having those of the last weekend“, he continues, sweating even more.
In 2022, Bulle in stock hada stock of more than 20,000 copies during the event. Of course, not everyone will find a buyer. “Last year, we had ruptures on titles, when we did not expect it. First of all, we ensure availability: if we have any titles left, we’ll make arrangements.“In 2022, the bookseller had achieved a six-figure turnover, an amount on which he donates to the association We walked on the bubble a percentage – being himself involved in the structure.
«Last year, I worked 31 days in a row on the show“, he calculates. “It was hard. I don’t regret a single one.Because the event radiates much more than just the agglomeration of Amiens: the whole territory benefits from it.
The manga, key word
To run so many hares, do we not exhaust ourselves? Not at all, because the store owners know what their core business is: books, and more the readers. “Throughout the year there is mediation, circumstantial communication for appointments, and regular communication for Editions La Gouttière. For the moment, bringing this new dimension of figurine does not have much interest for the event: it lacks a dedicated space which would justify it. »
Bubble in stock observes it like many others: while comics are still progressing, while comics – which starts from afar – continue to grow, manga predominates. “55% of our turnover is made on manga, for this reason, we are working on alternative covers, with publishers, so that the bookstore has unique offers.This was the case withBravest Journey: only six bookstores market a very limited edition. “This develops in good intelligence: first, by obtaining the official authorization of the Japanese authors“, he slips, with some delicate innuendos. “If they don’t validate, we don’t do it. »
However, the manga readership, always fond of goodies and specific offers, more easily accepts additional costs to hold specific objects. “I’m thinking of the tea canisters that Ki-oon provided with the last volume ofApothecary’s Notebooks. Yes, to obtain them, the booksellers had to accept a business approach and order copies of previous titles. But it was a success phénoménal. And the tea canisters were offered.
« We are currently collaborating with a publisher, and we will announce it soon, on a special edition: it will cost 10 € more than the consumer version, but we have devoted a lot of time to it, and have taken particular care of the project.If the slightest doubt remained, looking at the sales made through the website would sweep them away: “95% of them are manga. And this represents almost 10% of our total turnover: we have two people dedicated to online sales. An activity far from negligible.
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So, yes, the prospect of a single price for shipping costs would enthuse the manager of Bulle in stock, if this derogation for free shipping had not been introduced, following an order of €35. “People will buy more, maybe, to benefit“, on this famous site whose name starts withAand ends upman. « Personally, I hope that some will realize that coming to my place costs them less. »
Photo credits: ActuaLitté, CC BY SA 2.0
DOSSIER – 27th Amiens Comic Book Meeting: 2023
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