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The beginning of the re-containment, at the end of 2020, was marked by controversies in France about the closure of certain stores, deemed non-essential by the French authorities. On Thursday, ***, 2021, the Government announced the classification of bookstores and record shops, until now considered unessential, as "essential businesses". This relaxation measure received a rather high rate of support from citizens, and was particularly supported by sympathizers of the Parti Socialiste (** percent) and France Insoumise (** percent).

French people and bookstore closures

At the heart of the controversies, the closure of the bookshops during containment had represented an embarrassment for the French. It had caused a serious inconvenience for at least *** out of five people regardless of age group, and the proportion of the population feeling the greatest inconvenience from the closing of bookstores was the 18-24 year old generation (** percent). In fact, the lockdown seems to have accelerated people's consumption of books, and by early ***, less than two months after the announcement of the restrictions, half of the French had already read at least *** or *** books. Reading had indeed become a way for them to fight boredom and to disconnect from current events. In fact, a large majority of them wanted bookstores to remain open when they were asked in December about the eventuality of a third lockdown.

Consistency of the "non-essential business " list in question

The French generally had a rather negative opinion of the list of "non-essential" businesses drawn up by the authorities, many of whom pointed out the lack of consistency. Even Emmanuel Macron's voters were only a small majority to support the opposite position. Moreover, a good part of people in France considered that this list had been biased by the influence of lobbies, and that the store closures it implied would favor the large retail chains. Since people rarely visited bookstores for their book purchases during the first lockdown (even those with a Drive or Click and Collect system), this last consideration may well become a reality when it comes to bookstores.