When was the last time you went to a bookstore? When it is already convenient to buy books online, what reason do we have to buy books offline?
23 April is the 27th World Book Day. Nine Pai News interviewed two bookstores in different cities to talk about their current situation.
At present, some bookstores are still groping for how to operate, and some have reached a relatively mature model. No matter which bookstore, it has its own unique core.
Changsha Zhijian Bookstore
[1] He lost more than 900,000 yuan a year
"So far, the bookstore has been losing money." One of the founders, Lao Ben, said that at the beginning, the bookstore lost more than 900,000 yuan a year, and in the past two years, it has become 600,000. He felt that this was a good thing, and the loss was less to prove that the bookstore was getting better.
The Bookstore opened two stores in Changsha, one in Hedong and one in Hexi, one in Jianxiang North Road in Kaifu District, and one in University Town in Hexi. With a variety of formats and elegant style, the stop bookstore has been repeatedly praised as "one of the most beautiful bookstores in Changsha". Because various cultural events are often held here, it is regarded as a cultural landmark by most people.
Source of the picture stop bookstore
The much-loved Shuma Bookstore has always been plagued by business. Old stupid introduced that in the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, the flow of people in the stop bookstore is obviously much less than before, "Now it is slowly recovering, and the current flow of people is about 60% of the previous." ”
But the old stupid will always see a positive side in the predicament, "Although the flow of people has become less, but the stop bookstore is not open in the mall, people who come here will rarely walk around and take a look, they take the stop as the destination, is the effective traffic." ”
In this case, bookstores are also trying to save themselves. Stupid people say that their way is to save money, such as reducing the frequency of reading activities, or that after the bookstore staff resigns, they will not recruit new people in the short term. He analyzed, "Reducing expenditure is to make money from another point of view, although it is a bit pitiful to say, but this method is quite effective." ”
But he also said that this will not be a long-term approach, but a process of exploration at this stage. To put it farther aside, from its inception to the present, It has been in a stage of exploration.
[2] A stable pattern has not yet been explored
"The bookstore is a composite space, before what formats were added, how to increase, what activities were held, how to hold, etc., we have been exploring, it can be said that we have not found a stable model until now."
Taking hedong's stop-and-go bookstore as an example, in addition to the book selection and purchase area, there is also a large part of the reading lounge area, cultural creation, meals and other formats, usually, there will be irregular activities, may be the author to share new books, may also be a reading salon. These rich formats attract many enthusiasts, and Ms. Chen of Changsha said that she likes to participate in the activities of the stop, "I feel that these activities are more pure and free, and I can have a soul collision with other people, which is a very wonderful feeling." ”
In the process of exploration, The Bookstore has also introduced new industries such as talk shows.
Source of the picture stop bookstore
Lao Ben said that he felt that if the bookstore of a composite space accounted for more than 50% of the format of the book part, the whole country has not yet explored a stable model, so the road to stop is still continuing.
And this groping does not mean blindly increasing new formats, in the appropriate case, they will give up some unsuitable formats, such as now, in addition to saving costs, they are also slowly reducing the formats that are not so closely related to books.
When it comes to physical bookstores, it seems that there is no way to avoid a topic, that is, whether the convenience of online channels will have an impact on physical bookstores. The old fool said that there must be an impact, but this is not only for bookstores, but for many offline industries. He believes that the development of online shopping has a relatively lagging impact on bookstores, because "books are not necessities, and many people buy books and do not pay much attention to the details of books, such as publishers." But for other necessities of life, the public can quickly distinguish between good and bad, even on the Internet can quickly make choices. Therefore, he believes that the current impact of online shopping on bookstores is mainly reflected in the price difference.
But all this, the publisher of him, has long been prepared, "before deciding to open a bookstore, I was very aware of the current situation of the bookstore and the difficulties it will encounter, I opened a bookstore under very clear circumstances, because I think that bookstores have other cultural carriers that cannot replace places." ”
[3] Readers have written hundreds of guestbooks
The old fool said that he no longer cared about the new bookstore in Changsha. "I mean not caring about their appearance, but I talk to a lot of bookstore operators about what they're doing." He said that last night he sat down with the founders of several bookstores and chatted, and they felt that in this situation, they did not want to expend energy on doing too much, but "only cared about people who cared about me", for him, he now focused on how to give people who care about bookstores better experience and feedback.
Source of the picture stop bookstore
The old stupid talked about the readers in the store many times, the tone was much softer, he said that in the past few years of the opening, he saw many connections between readers and the bookstore, for example, readers would tell them that here, they met new friends, fell in love, married... Readers' feelings are very simple, and everyone will jointly wish each other to enter a new stage of life, and this simple and warm atmosphere has always warmed the people of the Shuma Bookstore.
"Every bookstore has set up more than 30 percent rest reading areas, we put a lot of guestbooks in large and small corners, and over the years, people have written hundreds of books." Usually, when I have time, the old stupid will also look through the content of the guestbook, and everyone will write a variety of contents on it, which may be the mood at this time, sharing favorite books, long talk about recent experiences, and so on.
As May Day approached, the old fool remembered that a tourist from Shanghai had left a message saying, "If the May Day holiday is longer for two days, it would be better, if there are two more days, I will also spend it in the stop." ”
Another time, he saw a message that deeply touched him, "A reader I have never met left a message saying that for some reason, he was very troubled about whether to leave Changsha for Guangzhou, and he struggled for more than half a year, and finally, he decided to stay, because there was a stop around him." ”
At the moment when he saw the message, the old fool felt that the hardships he had suffered before were worth it, and his original intention, "wanting to create an encounter between people and books", also gave him the answer at this moment.
Beijing Douban Bookstore
[1] Hot-selling inventory books
Books recommended by Douban Bookstore Mini Program on April 23
In 2006, at 262 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing, a small bookstore quietly opened. The bookstore is only 62 square meters, but it can accommodate more than 20,000 books, and has been listed as the most worthwhile bookstore in Beijing for many times with good books.
The bookstore manager is named Qingsong, and he runs the Douban bookstore with his wife Deng Yuhong. Before, Qingsong wanted to go to graduate school, rented a house near Peking University, and then happened to work in a bookstore, and then met his wife and opened a bookstore.
Unlike other bookstores, Douban Bookstore's supply is the inventory books and returned books of various publishing houses. Qingsong likes to choose books himself, and when he finds a book he likes, he will be particularly happy to buy.
For example, in the second year of opening, a personal seller found Qingsong and took him to a long-sealed warehouse in Xiyuan, and when Qingsong saw that there were 500 copies of "Travelogue" in front of him, his eyes immediately lit up and he accepted them all at a price of 5 yuan.
Once, he found that there were 1700 copies of "Chu Anping and "Observation", although they were discounted very cheaply, but it cost 5,000 yuan to buy them all. In an interview with the Beijing News, Qingsong said that he thought about it for three seconds, "All packed, immediately packed, and paid immediately." ”
Another time, in a wholesale store in Beijing's Wangsiying Wholesale Market, he found a collection of essays by philosopher Chen Jiaying published by Huaxia Publishing House in 2015, "Starting from Feeling" and "Irreducible Elephant", and only inquired about a discount, and immediately said, "I want this stack."
Buying these books, Qingsong did not think about the follow-up sales and other issues, and his attitude of running a bookstore was almost casual.
He confirmed with practical actions that inventory books are not books that have been eliminated, and there will always be the right people, and there are always customers who find a favorite book in thousands of old books, such as treasures, "You even have this book!" ”
In the months when the bookstore was brilliant, every evening when new books were read, Peking University Tsinghua students flocked to the bookstore, rushed to open a new package of books and quickly occupied the one they wanted. During the best period of the market, the daily turnover of Douban Bookstore was more than 6,000 yuan.
[2] Where has the time gone?
But no industry is smooth sailing, and Douban Bookstore has also ushered in a turning point. In the fifth year of opening, the discount for online book purchases is getting bigger and bigger, which is quietly changing people's consumption habits. The daily turnover of Douban Bookstore dropped from three or four thousand yuan to one or two thousand yuan.
Moreover, bookstores with a variety of formats have also quickly occupied the bookstore market share. Searching for social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin can be found that many cities have a relatively high degree of attention in this type of bookstore. When bloggers recommend these stores, they mostly mention other formats besides books, such as coffee desserts, florists, vinyl records, photography galleries, etc.
But Douban Bookstore has always insisted on not adding other formats, at most, they have opened an online book purchase channel - even so, they also insist on one-on-one, people-to-person communication.
They didn't even "surrender" to the popular book list, and until now they have mainly engaged in humanities and social sciences.
Deng Yuhong once explained the reason in the journal: Bookstores must have the responsibility of bookstores. Bookstores must also have the dignity of bookstores. I will never call bookstores that only decorate books as bookstores.
Qingsong gives people a feeling of introverted and sincere, he said that he is afraid of society, and usually does not express himself. He rarely contradicts other people's views, such as the popular multi-format bookstore, he feels that "it is also very good that there are more formats and more abundant, but I personally don't like it, so I didn't do it." ”
He also doesn't like to do market research, and he doesn't even want bookstores to be linked to business, but he can't avoid it, so he can only weaken this connection as much as possible. The couple who sell books have gained the love and concern of many customers, some customers order milk tea online to "feed" them, and some customers share chocolates, rice dumplings and postcards with them.
In the twilight, more and more people came to say goodbye and reunite with them. A girl in her third year of high school often came to the bookstore and came back in 2018 to tell Deng Yuhong that she had become a mother. Deng Yuhong and QingSong held their chins in shock, "Where has the time gone?" ”
[3] The bookstore is currently operating statically
In the past two years, because of the epidemic, Qingsong is not very convenient to go out to choose books, he chooses more books online, "The publisher sent the book list over, I bought it on it." But he still prefers the feeling of seeing books and buying them again, because the feeling of touching the paper is still different from online selection."
As for what book to choose, Qingsong's attitude has not changed, "what book you look at will enter what book", as for how much to enter, it is still "look at the mood".
In those 16 years, many bookstores have opened and closed, closed and opened. For example, in recent years, after some stores in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Xi'an and other cities have closed or suspended operations, some time ago, the last Yan and several bookstores in Xiamen announced their closure.
According to enterprise investigation data, there are 135,000 bookstore-related enterprises in the mainland. From 2017 to 2021, the annual registration volume of related enterprises showed an overall downward trend, of which 16,000 were newly registered in 2020 and 14,000 were newly registered in 2021. In the first quarter of 2022, 0.37 million new stores were added.
Industry fluctuations do not seem to have affected Douban Bookstore. Qingsong said that the bookstore is now operating normally. Checking the official micro of Douban Bookstore can also see that they recommend selected books every day and new books every week as usual.
Qing song introduced that although the outside world has been changing, the operation of the bookstore is still stable, and now there are people who come to buy books and read books every day. He calls this state of affairs "static management." He believes that the bookstore can now have a stable state, thanks to the stable source of customers accumulated by the bookstore for more than ten years.
As for the physical bookstores that are in decline from the outside world, he seems to be more calm, "There has been this saying for so many years, but the bookstore has always been open." He laughed and said that if it really can't continue to operate, it should be closed.
Qingsong said that he rarely goes to the bookstore now, and there is a courtyard behind the bookstore, where he usually spends some design work and dealing with other things in the bookstore. Running a bookstore has to deal with many large and small things, it takes a lot of effort, Qingsong rarely pays attention to external things, he has not even played Douyin, he feels that short videos will unconsciously consume a person's time, "too terrible." ”
In front of the yard, the Douban Bookstore operates as usual, and there is an impressive "rule" here: books with plastic seals can be dismantled, and it is no harm to open them and not buy them.
(Some of the content in the article is quoted from GQ)
Nine Factions news reporter Wen Yanli