Description
Place des Libraires is a French website that shows which bookshops have a book in stock: readers choose a title and a nearby shop, then reserve the book to collect there, or order it if it isn’t in stock. It is an alternative to ordering from Amazon and the big online retailers, because the sale goes to a physical bookshop.
In November 2026 the site listed 1,214 bookshops and about 3 million printed and digital books. It is run by Tite Live, a company in Montrouge that supplies databases and software to the book trade, with its subsidiary ePagine for e-books; the site carries the logos of the Centre national du livre and the France Relance recovery plan. Each bookshop manages its own stock, collection and delivery, and some don’t deliver to the home.
In France the price of a new book is fixed by law, so it costs the same in a bookshop as online. Home delivery is charged by weight: €5.49 for a 250 g parcel by Colissimo, €4.79 to a pick-up point, on the price grid shown in November 2026. E-books come in EPUB or PDF, mostly without DRM or with a watermark, and work on Kobo, Vivlio and other e-readers but not on Kindle.
Strengths
- Each sale goes to an independent bookshop, with the advice of its booksellers.
- Stock is shown before going, so a trip to the shop isn’t wasted.
- Books cost the same as on any other site, because the price is fixed by law.
Weaknesses
- Collection means going to the shop, and delivery adds about €5 for a single book.
- Delivery and collection depend on each bookshop, and some don’t send books to the home.
- The site belongs to a private company serving the book trade, not to the booksellers themselves.
Who it is for
Readers in France who want to buy their books, printed or digital, from a bookshop near home or work.
Sources
- Place des Libraires: home, FAQ, delivery prices, legal notice, checked November 2026
- Ville de Paris: soutenez les librairies et commandez vos livres en ligne
- Livres Hebdo: les libraires misent sur le click and collect