Closed Mima museum hosts vast Red Cross book sale

Anyone looking to buy a book this week will be spoilt for choice at this year’s Red Cross book sale, which finishes this Sunday 30 March.

Some 50,000 books are on offer at "La Grande Bouquinerie" in the new, albeit temporary, home of the former Mima urban art museum on Quai de Hainaut in Molenbeek.

“1,000m² formerly dedicated to contemporary art will be transformed into a huge bookshop, where tens of thousands of second-hand books are waiting to be snapped up,” the Red Cross said.

“There will be novels, mangas, art books, cookery books, travel books... and after spending years in the garage of the former Red Cross headquarters, we are opening a new chapter with a temporary move to Mima, a place vibrant with history and creativity.”

The annual fair held at the organisation’s French-speaking headquarters in Rue de Stalle, Uccle, was a high point of any bibliophile’s calendar – until the Red Cross moved to Namur in February 2024.

The stocks of books donated by the public were stored in Anderlecht and, with no suitable alternative location to have the sale, there was no book extravaganza last year.

“We looked for a place, but the prices were too high,” said the Red Cross’s Roxane Holvoet, responsible for second-hand books. “As the aim of the book sale is to raise funds, it would not have made much sense to spend too much to organise it.”

Mima’s closure due to access difficulties caused by construction works offered a solution.

“We went to see the owner of the premises,” Holvoet said. “He agreed to lend us the building. OK, it is a one-off, as he’s hoping to find other tenants. But in the meantime, we’ve found a temporary home.”

Books are normally sold at a quarter of their original price, Holvoet said, ranging from €1 to €35. The latter is for a first edition of the Bécassine comic strip series, published in 1920.

There will also be a temporary boutique on an upper floor of the former Mima building selling second-hand clothes.

One question remains: how visitors will take their purchases home, as the site is difficult to access by car. Holvoet suggests one solution, seen before, would be “people arriving with wheeled suitcases to help them transport their bargains.”

Each book bought will help fund the work of the Red Cross in Brussels. This includes giving out meals to the homeless, delivering food parcels and helping those in need. In addition, 20% of the profits from the cafeteria will be donated to the organisation.

“Behind the scenes of this event, a team of dedicated volunteers works all year round to carefully sort, classify and prepare each book,” the Red Cross added. “They are the ones who, for more than 40 years, have been bringing this huge temporary bookshop to life.”