Les Recyclables Genève

What Les Recyclables Genève does

Les Recyclables Genève (legal entity Les Recyclables SA) operates a hybrid libraire-café concept from a single storefront at 53 rue de Carouge in central Geneva, Switzerland. The business combines a second-hand bookstore stocking over 15,000 titles organized thematically with a café-restaurant offering a daily seasonal plat du jour six days per week, with hours extended to 23h00 on concert days of an adjacent venue. The bookstore inventory is continuously renewed through customer donations, creating a self-replenishing supply loop, and book prices range from CHF 4.00 to CHF 50.00 depending on condition, format, and rarity. The company also offers catering services and rents the café-restaurant for private events.

The business generates revenue through three streams: (1) retail and online book sales via the physical storefront and the recyclables.ch/shop e-commerce platform, where remote customers can search inventory, place orders, and reserve unavailable titles; (2) café-restaurant transaction revenue from daily lunch service; and (3) professional services revenue from catering and private event hosting. The company serves general consumers — book enthusiasts and café-goers in Geneva seeking a convivial atmosphere — with a particular emphasis on sustainable and family-friendly consumption. Distribution is hybrid: a single domestic physical storefront complemented by a globally accessible online shop.

Les Recyclables SA is a privately held Swiss société anonyme with no disclosed parent company, institutional investors, or funding rounds. The company was recognized in 2005 with the Bourse cantonale du développement durable from the Canton of Geneva for its sustainable development charter. It maintains a presence on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for brand and community engagement. The technology stack is a custom-built standard e-commerce platform with no proprietary or AI-driven systems disclosed.

Name

Les Recyclables Genève

Legal name

Les Recyclables SA

Website

https://recyclables.ch

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Les Recyclables Genève is a privately held Geneva-based libraire-café combining a 15,000-title second-hand bookstore with a café-restaurant offering daily lunch, catering, and private events from a single rue de Carouge storefront, supported by an online shop.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Independent Bookstore and Café

NAICS

Used Merchandise Retailers (459510), Book Retailers and News Dealers (4592)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812), Retail-Variety Stores (5331)

akta.pro primary industry

Used, Rare & Antiquarian Bookstores (CRALAAAB)

Keywords

• Second-hand books
• Bookstore café
• Café-restaurant
• Online bookshop
• Private event catering

Headquarters

HQ city

Geneva

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Book Sales: Retail and online sales of second-hand books. Customers can browse and purchase from the physical store or through the online shop. Books are continuously renewed through customer donations, creating a sustainable inventory cycle.
2. Café-Restaurant: Daily lunch service offering seasonal plat du jour. Café space available for dining, private events, and catering services. Open weekdays and Saturdays with extended hours on concert days.
3. Catering and Private Events: Café-restaurant can be reserved for private events. Catering services available. Additional revenue stream leveraging the physical space and hospitality capabilities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Les Recyclables Genève operates a libraire-café combining a second-hand bookstore and a café-restaurant under one roof in Geneva. The bookstore stocks over 15,000 recent second-hand books in near-new condition, organised thematically, with stock continuously renewed through customer book recycling. The café-restaurant serves a daily seasonal lunch plat du jour, hosts private events, and offers catering services. A website-based online shop extends book browsing, ordering, and reservation of unavailable titles beyond the physical store.

Product overview

Les Recyclables Genève operates a unified Librairie-Café concept combining three integrated offerings: a physical bookstore with over 15,000 second-hand books organized by theme, an adjacent café-restaurant serving daily seasonal lunch specials with catering and private event capabilities, and an online boutique (e-commerce shop) that extends access to their book inventory digitally. The company emphasizes sustainability and recycling, reflected in its name and 2005 Canton Sustainable Development Award.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Librairie-café (second-hand bookshop) Physical bookshop selling over 15,000 second-hand books in near-new condition, organised thematically, with stock continuously renewed through customer book donations; intended for general book-buying consumers in Geneva.
• Café-restaurant service (plat du jour, catering, private events) Daily lunch service offering a seasonal plat du jour in a convivial 'recycled' décor; the café-restaurant can be reserved for private events and provides catering services, intended for walk-in diners, families (children served the adult dish in mini portions), and event organisers.
• Boutique en ligne (online bookshop) Website-based e-commerce platform (recyclables.ch/newshop) allowing customers to search stock, place online book orders, and reserve unavailable titles, extending the physical second-hand inventory to customers beyond Geneva.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Daunt Books: UK independent bookshop chain with flagship Marylebone store featuring Edwardian galleried interiors and integrated café. Comparable as an independent bookstore operator that pairs retail with hospitality in destination locations.
• Powell's City of Books: Iconic independent used and new bookstore in Portland, Oregon with an in-store café. Comparable on the large-scale used-book inventory model, theme-organized categorization, and integrated café experience.
• Shakespeare and Company: Iconic independent English-language bookstore in Paris combining new and used books with a small café. Directly comparable as a destination libraire-café that blends book retail, second-hand inventory, and hospitality under one roof.
• The Strand Bookstore: Legendary independent used-bookstore in New York City with a curated inventory across categories. Comparable on the core used-book retail model and on operating as a single flagship destination store with strong community brand.
• Atlantis Books: Independent bookstore-café in Oia, Santorini. Comparable as a small-format libraire-café combining curated book selection with café seating, relying on destination foot traffic and a hospitality-led retail experience.

Regional players

• Orell Füssli Thalia: Swiss bookstore chain with strong Geneva presence. Comparable as a domestic bookstore competitor serving the same Geneva customer base, though operating a multi-store chain rather than a single destination libraire-café.
• Payot Librairie: Swiss regional bookstore chain headquartered in Lausanne. Comparable as a Switzerland-based bookstore operator competing for the same Geneva-area French-language reading audience, though it focuses on new books across multiple locations.

Broad incumbents

• Thalia: Major European bookstore chain with Swiss operations. Comparable as a large-scale bookstore competitor in the broader German/French-Swiss market, though focused on new titles rather than the secondhand niche.
• FNAC: Large French-Swiss broad-line retail chain selling books, music, electronics and more. Comparable as an incumbent competitor for book and media spend in Geneva, but lacking the used-book and integrated café focus.

Emerging players

• Buchhandlung Böttger: Independent Swiss German-language bookstore. Comparable as a small independent bookseller competing in the broader Swiss market; lacks the café-restaurant and used-book positioning that distinguishes Les Recyclables.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Les-Recyclables-129409397106590
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/les-recyclables-gen%C3%A8ve
• Instagraminstagram.com/lesrecyclablesgeneve

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Les Recyclables Genève