French Picture Bookstore in Incheon — A Little Piece of France on Cheongridan-gil

French Picture Bookstore in Incheon — A Little Piece of France on Cheongridan-gil, Bookstore Librairie

A small bookstore tucked inside an old red-brick building. Step inside and you’re greeted by chanson music, French-themed knickknacks, and shelves full of French picture books. We met the owners of Bookstore Librairie, Korea’s first bookstore dedicated to French picture books.

Interviewer Parc Jinmyoung
Interviewee Lee Seula, Kim Miyeon (owners of Bookstore Librairie)

You opened the bookstore together last November. What inspired you to start it?
Lee Seula (Seula) I’ve been involved in various French-language work, including interpretation, translation, and education. I love picture books so much that I’ve even translated some myself, and I’d had a vague dream for a long time of running a bookstore specializing in French picture books.
Kim Miyeon (Miyeon) My eldest daughter and Seula’s second daughter are friends, so we became close too, and I found that our shared willingness to take on new challenges matched well. I also love books and had always romanticized the idea of running a neighborhood bookstore. I don’t speak French, but having worked as a flight attendant for a long time and traveled to France often, I felt an inner closeness to French culture. So when Seula mentioned wanting to open a French picture bookstore, I was immediately intrigued.

How do you divide the work between the two of you?
Seula I mainly curate the books and manage the shelves. Most of what we carry are picture books—works by French authors, original French-language editions, and a small selection of secondhand books. We usually import picture books directly by contacting publishers in France, and we build our secondhand collection by letting customers trade in books they already own for other titles.
Miyeon I focus on the interior—space planning, displays, and so on. When I’m away for my main job, I try to make time to create videos introducing picture books or promoting the bookstore, though I still have a lot to learn (laughs). Since we both have other full-time jobs, we only open the store three days a week—Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Sometimes my flight schedule overlaps with our opening days, and even after flying all night, coming into the bookstore doesn’t tire me out. There’s no stress here. Seula is very considerate, and meeting new people at the bookstore is genuinely fun.

You also run French classes with a native-speaking teacher, right?
Miyeon Marie was a regular customer who always came to our bookstore events. At some point, she started sitting the kids on her lap and reading to them whenever she visited. The children loved it so much that we asked if she’d be willing to teach a class, and she happily agreed. Once a month, she reads books and plays with the children at the store, giving them a truly special experience.
Seula I run the online classes. Each month I select a few picture books (the number varies) and mail them to students, and during class we discuss those books together. Everyone seems to enjoy learning French through picture books instead of stiff textbooks. Most of our classes are aimed at beginners and above, but just recently the owner of a shop next door asked to join, so we’re planning to open a class for absolute beginners next month (laughs).

Was there a particular reason you chose this Gulpocheon neighborhood?
Seula There used to be a wholesale poultry shop on this spot. But right across from this space stands a truly beautiful old tree—it’s been there for a long time, casting a wide shade over the same spot for years. It felt like the kind of path a bookstore should follow. I wanted my own children to be able to spend time here while I run the store, and since there’s a park right in front where kids can run around, I thought there couldn’t be a better location.
Miyeon Families who visit the bookstore use the space in a similar way. While parents browse the books, kids read beside them or play in the park out front. We were worried the location wasn’t very accessible, but the nearby park and playground have really helped bring people in.

It’s striking how the simple word ‘bookstore’ is painted in white on the red-brick building. There’s something fun about stumbling upon a place like this in a quiet alley and thinking, “Wait, what’s this?”
Miyeon These days, more people come specifically looking for us, but honestly, we wanted to emphasize the charm of discovering it while wandering the alleys rather than pure accessibility.
Seula Sometimes people passing by mistake it for a café or a wine bar (laughs).

What did you pay the most attention to when designing the space?
Miyeon We drew a lot of inspiration from foreign university libraries and neighborhood bookstores. I wanted to create an atmosphere where you feel overwhelmed by books—shelves stacked all the way to the ceiling, requiring a ladder to reach the top—but that turned out to be difficult in practice. Instead, we tried to stage scenes you might find in a fairy tale: a hidden space revealed when you move a bookshelf, an attic with a treasure chest, and other small details meant to spark the childlike wonder in both kids and adults.

Is there a travel destination related to the bookstore you’d like to visit?
Seula Even before opening the store, I was already deeply interested in picture books, so I follow the social media accounts of many bookstores in France. When COVID made it difficult for bookstores to operate, many owners started introducing new books through live streams. Thanks to that, I discovered many wonderful books by different authors. Among them, a book introduced by Librairie M’lire, located in the small town of Laval about 300 kilometers southwest of Paris, left a deep impression on me—“Papa, Papa, Papa.” I proposed translating it into Korean, and the Korean edition was published in 2021. I’d love to visit that bookstore myself someday.

Do you have your own way of enjoying local bookstores more when you travel?
Seula I think understanding who the bookstore owner is changes how deeply you connect with the store. Even without talking to them directly, there are many ways to get a sense of who they are—reading guestbook entries left by past visitors, or following the store’s social media account. Not long ago, I visited a small bookstore in Sehwa, Jeju, run single-handedly by a young man. He was shy and quiet, and I was curious about him, so I checked out the bookstore’s social media account. There, he had written short posts that read almost like confessions—things too embarrassing to say out loud. Once you know a bookstore owner’s personality or story, the atmosphere of the space feels subtly different when you visit.

How does it feel to actually run a bookstore yourselves?
Miyeon A friend once told me that a life without children has smaller joys and smaller sorrows. I think the same is true of running a bookstore. If this bookstore weren’t part of my life, things might be a bit easier, but I’d have far less joy too.
Seula You don’t raise a child because they’re impressive or beautiful—you just want to protect and care for them completely. The bookstore is the same for me. To keep it running sustainably, I end up working even harder at my main job too. For me, the bookstore is like a magic potion that helps me live a little braver, a little more diligent life.