Les Mots à La Bouche, the top LGBTQ bookshop in Paris, is being forced out of the Marais due to rising rents, to be replaced by a Doc Marten shoe shop, according to reports. It’s a knife in the heart of the area’s cultural identity, say residents, and the district’s gay heritage.
The Guardian reports: “Les Mots à La Bouche, a 40-year-old Paris institution, is the top LGBT bookshop in France and considered one of the best in the world – a focal point of Paris’s historic gay neighbourhood in the Marais district. But as property speculation in central Paris reaches dizzying heights – it is estimated that at certain times of year there are more Airbnb rentals than residents in the Marais – the bookshop is being forced out by rising rents. … The shop, which has been in the Marais since 1983, is open seven days a week until 11pm and stocks more than 16,000 titles. But like many historic gay bars that closed under pressure from rising rents, the shop has been given until March to find a new location elsewhere in Paris.”
