Librairie, a 180-square-foot bookstore, opened May 30 in Los Angeles, Calif., the Los Angeles Daily News reported. Located at 3928 Sunset Blvd., in L.A.'s Sunset Junction, the bookstore carries a curated selection highlighting art, nature, literature, queer perspectives, and anti-fascism, with children's titles also available. Alongside books, owner Jackie DesForges carries an assortment of analog items meant to get people off their screens, including journals, stickers, and cyanotype kits. Per the American Booksellers Association, it is the smallest member store in Los Angeles.
"I want it to feel like a place where I wouldn't be able to choose what to buy," DesForges told the Daily News. She noted that instead of dividing the inventory into strict categories, she mixes much of it together. "Especially with the space, just because it is so small, I figured if I grouped everything together in one category it'd be easier for people to navigate and work their way around."
In addition to owning and operating Librairie, DesForges is the managing editor of the journal Air/Light. She had always wanted to open a bookstore, but expected to do so much later in life. When her grandmother died and left her enough money to get the bookstore started, however, DesForges felt "like the universe was telling me to go for it."
The bookstore's name comes from a bookshop in Paris, France, called Librairie DesForges that is now closed. A picture of that bookshop, taken by a family friend in the 1970s, used to be displayed in DesForges's family's home. Now it is mounted in the bookstore.
Desforges said the bookstore has been well-received by the community.