Ernster, Luxembourg

Ernster is a long-established family bookseller whose history dates to 1889, when Pierre Ernster opened the first shop. The company remained in family hands through several generations. After Ferdinand Ernster died in 1939, his widow Claire took over the business and guided it through the difficult years of the Second World War, an unusual example of female leadership in the retail sector at the time.

The flagship store extends across several levels and reflects Luxembourg’s multilingual culture, with books in Luxembourgish, French, German and English. Its selection covers fiction, history, travel, education, children’s literature and local publishing. Ernster was also an early adopter of online retail: in 1996, the company launched one of the country’s first e-commerce websites, with an early international order sent to Sweden.

For its 125th anniversary, Ernster created a 4.5-metre book pyramid using 63,377 donated books. The structure earned a Guinness World Record and helped raise money for a local children’s charity. The company has since expanded into a wider network of bookstores, including specialist concepts and modern branches designed for readings, workshops, author events and informal browsing.