“I looked on the Internet, but I believe that I am the only one in the world to do this. Maybe there’s a reason“, cowardly laughing Xavier Charignon. More than two years ago, he opened Pizza Roll, on the heights of Villeneuve-lez-Avignon. But we are far from a classic pizzeria…

On site, you can of course order a four cheese, a queen or a spring. But you can also buy a book or even a vinyl. Open for lunch and dinner, 7 days a week, the pizza maker wanted to combine his profession and his passion. “I grew up with a phrase in mind. That of Renaud in his song “It’s when we go where”: “The main thing to teach us, It’s the love of books that makes, That you can travel from your room around humanity”“, he reports.

Her love for reading came with time. Originally, the 44-year-old Avignonnais was not really academic. After failing his baccalaureate, he is looking for a job to earn a living. A pizza maker from the city of the popes hires him as a delivery boy. And when he stopped, Xavier Charignon bought the company and opened a new point of sale in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon: “That’s all I did, I’ve been making pizzas for 20 years (…) You have to earn money but you also have to know how to have fun.”

Objective: to offer for sale at least 1,000 books

So one morning, he decided to embark on this new adventure. It was necessary to convince his wife Émilie but also the suppliers and the publishing houses. For now, he must have between 200 and 300 books on his shelves, he would like to have at least 1,000: “I try to offer as many books as possible that don’t sell very well, those that you can’t find at Fnac. But of course, there are still famous authors like Musso, Coben or Connelly. I try to show what I like.“

For vinyl, the task is more like “painstaking work“. He puts himself between two services to find new sales channels. Xavier Charignon also invites customers to arrive their own vinyl, to listen to them, to share them for free with others on the Pizza Roll turntable.

Even his pizza boxes are different. To go out “the big chef with the hat with the colors of the Italian flag“, Xavier Charignon illustrates it with drawings by artists. At the moment, they are adorned with a pattern by Raïa, a tribute to the punk movement of the late 70s.

Established this summer, the concept of pizzeria-bookstore-record store is still struggling to take off. But the manager wants to give his innovation time to find its audience. And thus write a new page in the history of his company.

Mary Meunier

Pizza Roll, 1, rue Vincent Rouvière, 04 90 87 53 64 www.Pizzaroll.fr. Every day from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Deliveries Villeneuve-lez-Avignon – Les Angles -Pujaut- Sauveterre- La Bégude of Rochefort-du-Gard.