Nine dollars a pound! Internet celebrity second-hand bookstore want to transfer? The owner said he wanted to stick with it any longer

After two years, He Zehua once again had the idea of transferring second-hand bookstores.

He Zehua's bookstore is called "Nine Pounds Bookstore" because in this store, most of the books are sold at the price of nine yuan a pound. After years of operation, in Shenzhen, Jiujin Bookstore is a "cultural landmark" in the hearts of many book lovers. Some people say that visiting the Nine Pounds Bookstore has the feeling of visiting a small bookstore in the alley outside the school when I was a child. That sense of crossing makes people linger.

With the impact of the epidemic, He Zehua's business this year is not easy to do. On April 1, he hung up the news of the transfer of the Nine Pounds Bookstore in his circle of friends. Some readers asked, is it closed? He Zehua said, "No, the bookstore is open as usual, just want to change the owner, you can still find good books." ”

On April 3, the third day after the transfer information of Jiujin Bookstore was sent, He Zehua unexpectedly received surprises and emotions when he was working outside the home to subsidize his life.

It's not just the treasure bookstore hidden in the alleys by "internet celebrities" itself

Book lovers are accustomed to calling He Zehua "Old He", which is a tacit understanding reached between He Zehua and book friends after many years of operating second-hand books. In 2000, when he was still in Yichang, Hubei Province, Lao He started a second-hand book business. In 2008, friends said that the business of pulling goods in Shenzhen was easy to do, so Lao He put down the second-hand book business and started a truck driver and freight forwarder in Shenzhen. But such a business is far less good than what friends say. A year later, Lao He started an old business in Shenzhen to buy and sell old books. "At first it was a stall, and then it was done in both the stall and the store. After that, I only opened a store. Lao Ho said.

The Jiujin Bookstore in Bantian Street and Hom Village in Longgang District was opened by Lao He 6 years ago and has a façade of 100 square meters.

Hom Village is a lively urban village in Bantian Subdistrict, where Wuhe Station meets Metro Lines 10 and 5 at the mouth of the village. Lao Ho's Nine Pounds Bookstore is in the second row near the main street building, which is a quiet place in the lively side.

Compared with the surrounding shops, the sign of the Nine Pounds Bookstore is conspicuous. As soon as you walk through the door, you can see an electronic scale. This is the key item at the nine-pound bookstore checkout - most books, weighing and billing, nine dollars a pound. Lao He said that the price of nine yuan a catty, converted to each book, is very affordable. This is also an important reason why after the opening of the Nine Pounds Bookstore, more and more people are out of the circle, and more and more people come to punch the clock. On some websites, there are countless articles to punch in Lao He's Jiujin Bookstore, which has become a veritable internet celebrity bookstore.

While calling Jiujin Bookstore an internet celebrity bookstore, book lovers often like to add the word "treasure" in front of it. Because here, there will always be unexpected gains. Lao He said that there are more than 10,000 books on the pavement alone, and this is not added to the warehouse. Some people have found the original English books that are scarce in China, and some people have collected out-of-print books here that have not been found for a long time. "Treasure" and "net red" have made Jiujin Bookstore a cultural landmark in the hearts of many Shenzhen book lovers.

In the face of cold winter, the minimum daily turnover this year is only 3 yuan

However, under the influence of the epidemic, Lao He and his Nine Jin Bookstore encountered a "cold winter". Now, the need for epidemic prevention and control has been encircled and managed with Hom Village, and the shortcut to jiujin bookstore has been sealed. Readers who want to reach this bookstore in the second row of alleys have to take a detour. As a result, bookstores have lost a lot of foot traffic. "After the New Year this year, I haven't done many days of business. The situation of epidemic prevention and control is not so severe, and the flow of passengers has become a problem. Lao Ho said.

In fact, after coming to Shenzhen a few years ago, Lao He handed over the main shop to his wife to take care of, and he went out to work odd jobs to subsidize bookstores and households. "It's not okay not to work, the cost of collecting books, shop rent, rent and daily expenses all need money." Now the turnover of bookstores alone cannot be sustained. Lao He said that this year, the lowest turnover of the day only earned 3 yuan.

In fact, just before this year, Lao He's Jiujin Bookstore created a peak turnover for so many years. In 2021, the epidemic situation in Shenzhen is relatively stable, coupled with many "tap water" goods on the Internet, the customer flow of Lao He's Jiujin Bookstore is not low. At the beginning of 2021, a variety show by the famous host Liu Yiwei walked into Lao He's Jiujin Bookstore. In April of that year, after the program was broadcast, Lao He caught fire again. "There was a teacher who purchased from their school library and bought tens of thousands of dollars of books at my place at a time. This happened after the show aired, and I guess that person may be a friend of Teacher Liu Yiwei. Lao Ho said.

Throughout the past three years, Lao He's second-hand book business can be described as ups and downs. In 2020, affected by the epidemic, he also wanted to close the store at one point. With the support of many book lovers, the bookstore has come back to life and reached a climax in turnover in 2021. The beginning of 2022 is more like a repeat of 2020.

The landlord reduced the rent and the book friends were in the scene, and Lao He wanted to insist on it again

On April 1, this day is April Fool's Day, and Lao He sent a message of the transfer of the bookstore in the circle of friends and the book friends group. "Book lovers thought it was an April Fool's Day joke." Lao He smiled and said that there was some sourness in his laughter. In fact, this was a decision he had considered for a long time. After all, in the second-hand book business for more than 20 years, no one loves the Nine Pounds Bookstore more than he does. It was his livelihood and his life.

Lao Ho's transfer information exploded in the book group. For so many years, for many people, visiting the Nine Pounds Bookstore has become their habit. Book friends have given advice to Lao He in the group. Some suggested that he switch to online, some suggested that he move closer to the school, and some said that he must go to Lao Ho's bookstore to celebrate the holidays.

What Lao He did not expect was that this kind of "praise" was not the idea of one or two book friends.

April 3, the first day of the Qingming holiday. Lao He did not rest, and still went out to do odd jobs. In the afternoon, Lao He, because of an incident, let his wife go to the factory to top his class, and returned to the bookstore by himself. The moment he walked to the door of the bookstore, Lao He was a little dumbfounded—the crowd in front of him was the most crowd he had seen this year.

Lao Ma and Lao He have known each other for I don't know how many years. Lao He said that they had known each other when they were still setting up the stall. Lao Ma is a book lover and usually likes to patronize Lao Ho's bookstore. "Get used to it, come every week, love to buy books." Lao Ma said that when he saw the transfer message sent by Lao He, his heart was full of reluctance, hoping that the bookstore could be opened well.

Ms. Wang is a new book friend at Jiujin Bookstore. On April 3, she and her friends came from Nanshan District to "pull grass". "I saw someone recommending it on an app that said there were a lot of original Books in English. So it's time for the holidays. Ms. Wang said she didn't know that Lao He wanted to transfer the bookstore. As a new book friend, she also hopes that Lao He can stick to it.

In fact, Mr. Zhou, Lao He's landlord, also saw Lao He's difficulties. He decided to reduce the rent of Lao He by 2,000 yuan to help him tide over the difficulties.

In his heart, Lao He actually did not want to transfer his Nine Pounds Bookstore. "I still want to continue to do it, after all, I have done second-hand books all my life." I'm 50 and nothing else. Looking at the support of so many people, Lao He said that if he could, he wanted to stick to it again.

"If it doesn't work, I'll go to the road and raise a sign to tell everyone that there's a bookstore here and show the guests the way." Lao He said that he also planned to make a short video of the route to the Jiujin Bookstore, post it on social networks, and then insist on it and cross the barrier in front of him.

Written by: Nandu reporter Yan Peng

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"It's not okay not to work, the cost of collecting books, shop rent, rent and daily expenses all need money." Now the turnover of bookstores alone cannot be sustained. ”

——Lao He said that this year, the lowest turnover of the day only earned 3 yuan. After coming to Shenzhen a few years later, Lao He mainly entrusted the shop to his wife to take care of, and he went out to work odd jobs to subsidize the bookstore and family.

"If it doesn't work, I'll go to the road and raise a sign to tell everyone that there's a bookstore here and show the guests the way."

Lao He said that he also planned to make a short video of the route to jiujin bookstore, post it on social networks, and then insist on it and cross the hurdle in front of him.