Nevertheless,
Coast mother -of -pearl, this:
Installed In an old garagethe independent bookstore The airtight garage has Luc-sur-Meron the coast of Nacre. Moreover, (Calvados) celebrates its first candle. In addition, One year after the opening in May 2024, its creator Étienne Fourre took an enthusiastic assessment.
When you push the door of this Luc-sur-Mer bookstore, nothing suggests that it once occupied a garage. For example, No rowdy brand or imposing showcase, but a discreet, warm place, with a cozy atmosphere. Furthermore, Inside. Nevertheless, tailor -made shelves mixing wood and metal, comfortable armchairs, soft lighting, and at the bottom, a garden conducive to reading or strolling.
A refuge for curious readers – Coast mother -of -pearl, this
It was coast mother -of -pearl, this here that Etienne TVreau chose to put her books of books on May 3, 2024. However, But originally, the story could have been quite different.
I wanted to create a more ambitious third place with training center, restaurant, activity room … Meanwhile, but after the COVVID, the locals I had in mind in Douvres or Ouistreham were blocked.
Faced with administrative slowness, the idea of giving up is essential. For example, Until a joke becomes a serious track: reopen the family garage, unused for years.
Idea coast mother -of -pearl, this instead: give birth to a universe
Rather than waiting again. Therefore, Étienne see its downward ambitions To adapt them to the available surface. For example, “I thought about what I could keep from my initial project in a small volume. Therefore, There was only the bookstore. Nevertheless, »»
More No question of doing things by half. Furthermore, Everything is redesigned so that the place, although Exigu, breathes conviviality and attention to details. Moreover, With the help of a craftsman friend. For example, he imagines a tailor -made development, plays with materials, recovers old furniture and modulates the spaces according to the seasons. Furthermore, Inside. For example, outside, everything invites you to stay:
I wanted a place where people want to come, to land, to come back. Consequently, A place of life before being a place of sale.
A bookstore as a mediation space
Within the hermetic garage, the watchword is clear: offer rather than sell. The selection of works is fully assumed by Etienne.
I choose first according to what I want to discover. Not depending on immediate profitability. Of course. it has to keep it economically, but I prefer to offer a single well-chosen copy than a pile of bestsellers.
Result: a singular bookstore where we meet independent pubites of publishing houses. rare comics, poetry works, travel coast mother -of -pearl, this accounts, music, and even publications of the Philharmonie de Paris. “I want to show that another form of bookstore can exist, complementary to what we find in town. »»
Far from wanting to “break the codes”, Etienne claims a personal appropriation of the place. Additionally, “It is not a posture. I just don’t know how to do it otherwise. I need space to look like me. »»
A living place
From the first months, the bookstore imposed itself as a cultural place in its own right. Étienne regularly organizes intimate concerts, literary meetings, writing workshops and even exhibitions … in the toilets! “The space was large. the walls were empty, so we said to ourselves: why not make it a place to hang on graphic works?” »»
In winter, events take place inside, in a tight and friendly configuration. In summer, the garden becomes a show coast mother -of -pearl, this scene. Staders, musicians, authors who sometimes came from afar invest the place.
Shortly after the opening. an artist known as the red pianist had even installed her mobile tail piano in front of the bookstore, transforming the street into an open stage. “I like events attracting passers -by, create surprises, make you want to stop. »»
Recognition and new links
At the time coast mother -of -pearl, this of the first birthday, the balance sheet is more than positive. The clientele, first local, has expanded.
I could not bet only on the inhabitants of Luke. Today, I have people who come from Caen, from Raceulles, Ouistreham … for the bookstore and for a walk by the sea.
The bookstore was also spotted at the national level: highlighting in the program La Grande Librairie on France 5. it also received the Interior Space Prize awarded by the Grand Prix Books Hebdo of the 2025 bookstores for the quality of its development. A recognition that confirms the correctness of the project. “It proves that it is not just a tinkered idea in a corner, but a place that makes sense. »»
A suite under construction
If he admits to being a little tired by a dense summer in events. Furthermore, Étienne Take remains carried coast mother -of -pearl, this by the enthusiasm of his visitors and the guest authors. At the start of the school year. new literary meetings are planned, always with the same logic: to offer something else. “Local authors are already doing a lot in the region’s bookstores. Here, I prefer to invite those that we would not have crossed otherwise. »»
And if the bookstore remains an individual project. it also benefits from the network of her daughter, editor at this and there, an independent house in Paris. A precious gateway to publishers, catalogs, salons. “We are each in our place, but we are completing well. »»
A coast mother -of -pearl, this name full of meaning
The name of the bookstore was not chosen at random. He pays tribute to the world of Moebius, alias Jean Giraud, immense author of science fiction comics died in 2012. “I wanted a name that keeps the idea of garage, but also an opening to the imaginary. By falling on the comic the hermetic garage at home, I had a click. After contacting Moebius’s daughter, he receives his enthusiastic green light. “It also gives me visibility in the comic strip. »»
What strikes the “hermetic garage” is the feeling of being elsewhere.
I try to offer a place that disconnects from everyday life. We come here, we are a little suspension. Time slows down.
A bookstore like a refuge, where the choice of books invites to the inner journey, without noise or aggressive showcase.
“There is real appetite for coast mother -of -pearl, this this kind of place. As long as people come, as long as they are happy, I continue. Between local anchoring. opening in the world, the garage of Étienne Fourreau has become much more than a simple trade. A cultural bubble, fragile but vivid, by the sea.
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Further reading: Sikelia: between land and sea – Photography: Joël Fanet reveals the book “Chenôve in Côte-d’Or” – 7 books and fanzines to read this summer to analyze and deconstruct the musical environment – Here are 12 pounds to read camping in the forest or by the sea – The Jaur valley, a work under the pen of a child in the country.
