During the last quarter of 2022, the historic Alibri bookstore, formerly Herder, will close its doors for good. Apparently this could be related to the viability of the bookstore.
The store located at 26 Balmes Street, between Gran Via and Diputació, closes three years before its 100th anniversary.
It was backed by the Herder publishing house in Freiburg, Germany, founded in 1801.
This publishing house discovered at the beginning of the 20th century that it had a large and sufficient bibliographic collection in Spanish to fill a bookstore.
Initially, the Herder family (which still owns the company and is now in its sixth generation) thought it could be founded in Madrid. However, they decided to land in Spain, but in Barcelona.
It finally opened its doors in 1925 in the Catalan capital.
Some history of the former Alibri bookstore Herder
Since it opened its doors, the bookstore developed its activity normally, until it was expropriated by the Republican side during the Civil War.
But when all was lost, a former manager, Antonio Valtl, bought it at the time in a public auction and it was located at 26 Balmes Street.
This happened in the 1930s. At first Valtl had problems because the bookstore was a German-owned company, so it had problems with the Inter-Allied Commission after World War II.
Since then and until now, it has been located there. In March 1991, Herder became Alibri Librería.
In February 1999 it created the cataloging department, in charge of cataloging purchases from Catalan universities and other institutions.
The best book supplier for UB students
For almost a century of life in Barcelona, the former Herder has been the supplier of books to the students of the Universitat de Barcelona.
It became a “pedigree” store, recognized as the best place to learn the complete history of the city.
In fact, the University of Barcelona certified it as an official supplier for its students, mainly because one third of its publications are written in other languages: German, French, English and Italian.
The bookstore also became the perfect place to look for essays on philosophy. It was the best stocked in this area.
The Alibri bookstore, formerly Herder, has been the best reference in philosophy and languages throughout its history.
Sources close to the company indicated that the closure will take place soon. The first thing the owners will do is to terminate the contracts and compensate the 27 workers.
Another bookstore disappears
It is “Cómplices” (Calle de Cervantes, 4), which will close its doors on December 31, 2022 after 29 years of operation. She specializes in LGTBQI+ issues and all related literature.
