Librerío de la Plata

Librerío de la Plata is a small independent bookshop located in the centre of Sabadell, in the Catalan comarca of Vallès Occidental, Spain. It sits on a pedestrian street a few steps from the Mercat Central, and describes itself as a neighbourhood bookshop with a strong personal, recommendation-driven approach to bookselling. The shop opened in 2013, and by 2023 it was celebrating its tenth anniversary, a milestone it marked publicly on its website and social channels. The bookshop's defining specialisation is Latin American authors, a focus reflected in its name — 'de la Plata' evokes the Río de la Plata region of Argentina and Uruguay. At the same time, the shop is deliberately broad in what it stocks: narrative, essays, children's books and biographies are all sold regardless of the author's origin, guided by the booksellers' own taste and judgement rather than by a narrow category. This combination of a clear specialisation with an eclectic, curated general offer is central to its identity. Beyond retail, Librerío de la Plata functions as a small literary hub in Sabadell. It runs an unusually large number of reading clubs — including El Club de los Miércoles, El Club Flexible, El Club de Ilustrados, El club de Ada (horror, fantasy and the unusual), El instante raro (poetry), a French-language club, Club Yugen (Asian literature), El cau de les meravelles, Club Puro Cuento and Voces y ecos del andar femenino — alongside book presentations, writing workshops and literary vermouth gatherings. It also maintains a presence on local radio through the segment 'El llibre obert' on Radio Sabadell, and is active on social media, where it shares its window displays, breakfast meet-ups and event announcements. The shop is led by bookseller Cecilia Picún, who is identified on the shop's own 'Quiénes somos' page as 'la librera'. It operates as a private, independent business with no parent company or chain affiliation, and its market is essentially local: Sabadell and its surrounding area, with an online presence through its website and social networks extending its reach to readers elsewhere in Catalonia and Spain. In positioning terms, Librerío de la Plata is a classic example of the contemporary small European independent bookshop: it competes not on price or scale but on curation, specialisation, personalised service and community programming. Its reading clubs, author events and radio collaborations are as much a part of its brand as the books it sells, and its tenth-anniversary celebration in 2023 underlined its role as an established cultural fixture in central Sabadell.

Librerío de la Plata opened in 2013 in the centre of Sabadell, a city in the Vallès Occidental comarca of Catalonia, Spain. It was established as a small independent bookshop on a pedestrian street close to the Mercat Central, in a part of the city with strong foot traffic and a traditional retail character. From the outset it was run by bookseller Cecilia Picún, who remains the public face of the shop and is described on its website as 'la librera'. The shop's name and identity are tied to Latin America: 'Librerío de la Plata' evokes the Río de la Plata, the estuary between Argentina and Uruguay, and the shop's stated specialisation is Latin American authors. This specialisation gave the bookshop a clear niche in a market where small general bookshops face pressure from chains and online retailers. At the same time, the shop deliberately avoided becoming a narrow specialist: its own description states that it sells 'everything we like and consider good books', including narrative, essays, children's books and biographies, regardless of origin. Over its first decade, Librerío de la Plata built its reputation less on scale than on curation and community. It developed a dense programme of reading clubs — among them El Club de los Miércoles, El Club Flexible, El Club de Ilustrados, El club de Ada (horror, fantasy and unusual literature), El instante raro (poetry), a French-language club, Club Yugen (Asian literature), El cau de les meravelles, Club Puro Cuento and Voces y ecos del andar femenino — as well as book presentations, writing workshops and informal literary gatherings such as the 'vermut literario' and the '#desayunodelibrera' breakfasts. These activities turned the shop into a small literary hub for Sabadell and its surroundings. The bookshop also extended its reach beyond its physical premises. It contributes a segment titled 'El llibre obert' to Radio Sabadell, and maintains an active presence on social media and on its own website, where it posts about window displays, events and recommended titles. This mix of physical retail, local media and digital communication allowed a small shop to sustain a visible cultural role in the city. In 2023 the bookshop publicly celebrated its tenth anniversary, a milestone highlighted on its homepage. By that point it was an established fixture of central Sabadell's retail and cultural scene, still independent and still privately owned, with no parent company or chain affiliation. Its history to date is that of a small, personality-driven bookshop that has used specialisation, personal service and event programming to remain viable and distinctive in a challenging bookselling market.

• 2023

  The bookshop celebrates its 10th anniversary.

• 2013

  Librerío de la Plata opens in the centre of Sabadell.

Small independent neighbourhood bookshop in central Sabadell, differentiated by specialisation in Latin American authors, personalised recommendations and a dense programme of reading clubs and literary events.

• Latin American literature

  The shop's core specialisation, reflected in its name and identity.

• Narrative fiction, essays, children's books and biographies

  General categories sold regardless of author origin, selected according to the booksellers' taste.

• Reading clubs

  A large programme of clubs including El Club de los Miércoles, El Club Flexible, El Club de Ilustrados, El club de Ada, El instante raro, a French club, Club Yugen, El cau de les meravelles, Club Puro Cuento and Voces y ecos del andar femenino.

• Writing workshops and book presentations

  Events organised around books and the pleasure of reading.

1. 1Librerío de la Plata – official websitelibreriodelaplata.com
2. 2Quiénes somos – Librerío de la Platalibreriodelaplata.com
3. 3Librerío de la Plata – Wikidatawikidata.org