Rahva Raamat is the largest retail and wholesale bookseller in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. It has 12 bookstores and a restaurant in 8 cities and also sells to most other bookstores, supermarkets and libraries in Estonia. Rahva Raamat in Viru Keskus was the winner in London Book Fair Bookstore of the Year award in 2022 Rahva Raamat has 5 locations in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, one in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

, Pärnu,

Viljandi Viljandi (, german: Fellin, sv, Fellin) is a town and municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,407 in 2019. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major Estonian cities, Pärnu and Tartu ...

Kuressaare Kuressaare () is a town on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saaremaa Parish and the capital of Saare County. Kuressaare is the westernmost town in Estonia. The recorded population on 1 January 2018 was 13,276. Th ...

Rakvere Rakvere is a town in northern Estonia and the administrative centre of the Lääne-Viru ''maakond'' (county), 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. Rakvere is the 8th most populous urban area in Estonia. Rakvere has a tota ...

Narva Narva, russian: Нарва is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in Ida-Viru County, Ida-Viru county, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which ...

and Jõhvi.

History

Rahva Raamat was founded in 1912, when Estonian publisher Gustav Pihlakas opened his bookstore in Pärnu mnt 10, a newly designed house by respected Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen. Since then, there has always been a bookstore in the same premises. In 2016, Rahva Raamat store was chosen among the four best bookstores in the world at the London Book Fair. It was also recognized as Estonia's trade act of the year. In October 2002, Rahva Raamat in Pärnu mnt 10 in Tallinn was in danger of being closed down. Hundreds of protesters appeared on the street, which helped the oldest bookstore in Estonia to stay open. BaltCap announced in October 2022 that it would buy Rahva Raamat after the permission of the Competition Authority.

References

External links

* {{Official website Bookstores of Estonia