The Bicycling Bookseller

Using Google Maps, bookseller Mattia Garavaglia found a new way to reach readers in lockdown and safely deliver hundreds of stories to customers across the city of Turin, Italy.

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My name is Mattia Garavaglia. At 27 years old, I decided to open a bookstore. The first months were really hard. I was sleeping on the ground on a futon in the back of the store. But in the beginning of 2020 I felt that it could be my year. But then COVID struck.

When the lockdown came, Turin was a ghost town. I was in fear that I would be out of business. So I said ok, I have to do something. I took a photo outside my shop with my bike saying if you can’t come to me I can come to you.

I received the first order in a matter of hours. And then I received a call from the newspaper here in Turin. I started to feel a bit of pressure because there are too much people finding out about me. Orders came in really fast. It was kind of messy.

I needed to take books and go there. Then there. Then there. I was using pencil to track where I would go. So I would get lost a lot during the day. It was really hard. But then I realized I could pinpoint every delivery on Google Maps and just go.

It shortened the time between each delivery and made my trip so fast. It helped me make more money deliver more books but it even made me a lot more tired. I feel always tired. Mattia started doing deliveries by bicycle before us. And since we were both struggling we decided to team up.

It allowed us to get through the pandemic. All the small bookstores felt like helping each other was the vital part of lockdown. And now we are starting a site called Bookdealer. Using Google Maps, you can find all the books there are in small bookstores.

The big lesson I learned from my experience in COVID was the inventive part of my job is the most important. My bookstore doesn’t have to end on the doorstep but it can expand to the whole city.