Chapter Closes on Iconic Parisian Gay Bookstore
Les Mots à la Bouche—a decades-old gay bookstore in Paris' famed Marais gayborhood—is being forced out of its original location due to increased rent prices.
As The Guardian reports, the 40-year-old Paris institution, long regarded as France's top LGBTQ bookstore, will soon leave its location on Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie in the Marais due to rising overhead costs.
For weeks, two signs have adorned its windows: One reads, "Cultural heritage in danger," and the other says, "We need your help!"
Though the Marais has a culturally rich queer scene dating back to the 1980s, the neighborhood has become something of a trendy tourist trap in recent years, targeting out-of-towners with luxury shops, eateries, and AirBnbs. A few legacy gay bars in the Marais have met a similarly dismal fate, shuttering when their owners couldn't keep up with rising rent prices and promptly being replaced by boutiques.
In a statement to The Guardian, Les Mots à la Bouche manager Sébastien Grisez called out the irony of a historically gay neighborhood booting out its sole queer bookstore. (It's rumored that a Doc Martens store will occupy the location where Les Mots à la Bouche has housed more than 16,000 titles since 1983.)
Revelers at Paris' LGBTQ Pride march in June 2019.
"Paris city hall promotes the gay history of the Marais, and it has painted the crossroads here in rainbow colours," Grisez told the news outlet, "but no longer having our bookshop here seems absurd."
The owners of Les Mots à la Bouche reportedly have until March to find a new location, so it's not quite an adieu yet. According to the shop's Instagram, its owners are actively touring new buildings and making progress, but no concrete decisions have been made. There's a chance the bookstore might have to switch neighborhoods, too.
Despite pressures from both soaring overhead costs and anti-LGBTQ bigots, other international queer bookstores, like Gay's the Word in London and Libreria Complices in Barcelona, continue to thrive. Here's hoping nos amis français at Les Mots à la Bouche can say the same.
