Building a new life: Secondhand bookstore run by homeless in Athens

While he was wandering the streets of Athens, Leonidas usually spent his time looking for books that had been discarded in trashcans, which he collected and later sold to secondhand book stalls in Athens’ flea market for a few euros. This gave him the idea to open his own secondhand bookstore, where he and the friends he met on the streets — fellow homeless people — could work and make a living.On a winter’s morning in January he woke up determined to make his idea a reality. By this point he had made a home for himself in a storeroom behind a friend’s office. He issued a call on Facebook, asking for people to donate books they didn’t want anymore. On that first day alone, more than 900 people shared his post. Soon, Greek media picked up on it and started writing about him, helping his story to go viral across the country. This generated a whole wave of people wanting to support his cause, and dozens of packages full of books, sometimes used, sometimes brand new, started arriving at his door.

“We received books from all over the country. We have approximately 50,000 books for sale right now,” he said with pride. His book bazaar found its current temporary home thanks to an anonymous donor.

That first official call to donate was a huge success, as were the ones that followed. “The money we got covered renting a house for six months,” he said with a smile.

Today Leonidas has even bigger dreams: He is hopeful that he and his friends can regain part of their old lives. He wants to create a community center run by the homeless for the homeless at the new permanent spot he has found in the Tavros neighborhood, open a second bookstore. He wants to help as many homeless people as possible.