Perhaps people should put some thought into the implications of this decision before touting ideology. Free markets and centralized economies both have issues. I'm going to focus upon the problems with the former since the comments (thus far) seem to indicate that there are a lot of opponents to the latter. So consider this:

Free markets seem to tend towards an imitation of centralized economies, albeit with businessmen rather than politicians as the leaders. (Famous examples include Standard Oil, AT&T, and IBM.) Once that happens, you have many of the same problems as a centralized economy. The situation with bookstores in the U.S. also suggest an additional problem: the collapse of a single business can lead to the near collapse of an industry. Think about it: many communities had limited access to bookstores prior to the collapse of the brick and mortar stores, now they have even less access. Shifting their business to online retailers doesn't really solve the problem either, since it is dominated by Amazon with limited prospects to escape (thank-you DRM!). On top of that, a few of the jobs that existed within the community have left it.

Propping up the small bookstores may create a more competitive business environment. It won't be more competitive in the often cited example of prices, but the diversity of bookstores will be able to provide a richer variety of books. Those bookstores will live or die based upon their ability to provide a product that consumers want rather than what a single retailer decides they want to push. On top of that, they are protecting local jobs. Local jobs are good for the local economy as well as government coffers.

Now I know that things aren't as clear cut as that. I simply wanted to present an opposing view point because France may be doing the right thing.