Sitges currently has no bookshop, although it has two libraries and several news kiosks. For this reason, the local council aims to open a municipal bookshop during 2023 in the historic Patronat building, located on Carrer Parellades.
Last year, the council presented its bookshop project for the building which had been acquired during the previous administration. According to the local councillor for culture, Xavier Salmerón, the reason that no bookshop currently exists in Sitges is due to the high cost of rent, the poor financial return for entrepreneurs in this sector, as well as fierce competition from online sales.
The location of a bookshop in the Patronat building means it will be located in the centre of town and in an area of great commercial activity. This heritage building was originally the chapel of the Mares Mercedàries Concepcionistes until 1919, when it became the Patronat d’Acció Catòlica, a school and cultural space. In 2018, Sitges Town Council acquired it and, since then, expressed an interest to renovate it ‘for cultural use’.
The preliminary project for the reconstruction and adaptation of the building, presented last year, is to create a municipally-owned bookshop with an office-style cafeteria with access to a 270-square-metre outdoor courtyard, where customers will be able to sit and read, all on the ground floor level.
The upper floor will be adapted as a space for literary meetings and events to be held in collaboration with the book trade. The distinguishing feature of the future establishment is its ‘municipal’ status. A fact that, according to Salmerón, means the council can also choose to include books of local or Sitges-based interest.
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