Readers craving for books in the middle of the night can get a quick fix at one of the French capital’s five newly installed book vending machines.
‘We have customers who know exactly what they want and come at all hours to get it,’ said Xavier Chambon, president of Maxi-Livres, a low-cost publisher and book store chain that debuted the vending machines in June.
It’s as if our stores were open 24 hours a day.
Stocked with 25 best-selling titles, the machines cover the gamut of literary genres and tastes. Regardless of whether they fall into the category of high culture or low, all books cost a modest $2.45.
Books are but the latest offering in France’s ever-expanding vending machine market, which is responding to off-hour demand for everything from toilet paper to carnations.