Ángel Alcalde, a 68-year-old bookseller, is facing significant challenges in keeping his small business, Laser bookstore, located on Banco de España street in Bilbao's Casco Viejo, afloat. Since its opening 41 years ago, the establishment has always had limited space, but the recent approval by the City Council for the installation of an elevator in the adjacent building, at number 1 La Cruz street, exacerbates the situation, taking away five crucial square meters, particularly from the back storage area.

Alcalde claims the elevator project, which has municipal approval, will force him to close his business. "I don't even have space to place a new photocopier anymore," he laments, and has decided not to order school supplies for the upcoming academic year due to the uncertainty of whether he will still be working by then. "I'm losing money because I can't even order backpacks," he states, "I can't risk bringing in more stock as I'll have to liquidate everything here first. I'm very suffocated."

The bookstore's facade displays signs expressing his distress: "I'm sorry, I've fought as hard as I could. I have to say goodbye after 40 years. Farewell forever." Alcalde harshly criticizes the Council's actions, which he believes have "expropriated" part of his shop without offering alternatives. "Neither the neighbors nor anyone from the Council has visited. They don't care, even though we've spent a lot of money on lawsuits, 27,920 euros, just to continue," he adds.

Alcalde, who has collected over 3,000 signatures of support, has been fighting the property owners' association's project for years. However, he believes alternatives exist: he suggests the neighbors pay him a market price, between 140,000 and 150,000 euros, which would allow him to afford rent elsewhere, or to buy him another premises and exchange it for his current one. "I want to keep working. We'll have to move all the stock and take it wherever we can," he insists.

He recalls that his brother-in-law suffered two heart attacks due to the stress of the business situation before his death. "I feel alone," he laments. Alcalde states that what "large retailers and the internet" have not achieved, "the City Council" will. At Laser, he continues to sell comics, children's stories, music boxes, and other stationery items, highlighting his unique service of pen repairs and selling loose DIN A3 sheets, something no other shop offers, while lamenting that a family of five will lose their jobs.