23 April is the 27th World Book Day. In recent years, due to the epidemic and the impact of online bookstores, some well-known physical bookstores have gradually declined. At the same time, some bookstores actively explore the transformation of "self-help" to increase endogenous power, and the "bookstore + N" model prevails. The rapid development of physical bookstores is inseparable from policy support, social attention and the improvement of bookstore operation and management level. Industry insiders believe that physical bookstores "must exist a way out."
On April 23, the 27th World Book Day arrived as scheduled, but some bookstore directors said that offline activities were restricted due to the epidemic and that no events would be held on World Book Day. Some bookstore leaders believe that reading is not limited to a moment, physical bookstores on the city's cultural map, like a coordinate existence, at any time welcome people who like to read.
What is the current situation of brick-and-mortar bookstores at a time when fragmented reading is prevalent, online shopping is part of the lifestyle, and the epidemic is repeated? Recently, the reporter visited some physical bookstores in Beijing to understand the hardships and persistence in the operation of physical bookstores.
Many physical bookstores have failed to survive the "cold winter" of the epidemic
One spring afternoon, reader Yi Yi came to a small bookstore in Beijing's Dongcheng District, a bookstore with a poetry theme, and Yi Yi, who likes literature, sometimes talks with the staff member Zhang Ying about his feelings about a poem. Yi Yi said that coming to the bookstore to read gave her a chance to get rid of the chores of work and life. "More often, guests simply browse, and most of them do not buy books." Zhang Ying said.
The picture shows the interior of the poetry space of the model bookstore.
In the poetry space of the Model Bookstore, the elegant and pure atmosphere attracts many readers, which is one of the four bookstores that still exist in the Model Bookstore. Under the epidemic, in order to maintain the operation of the bookstore, the founder Jiang Xun sold a property in Beijing. However, two bookstores were still forced to close due to rent pressure, and Jiang Xun himself unfortunately fell off the building and died in the process of moving books not long ago.
Once upon a time, a model bookstore aspired to be a "destination bookstore" had a store every 1.5 kilometers in the Xicheng District. "But I really can't hold on, it's too hard." Model Bookstore co-founder and Jiang Xun's widow Xing Na said.
The picture shows the exterior view of the niche bookstore.
In recent years, a number of well-known physical bookstores in the local and even national areas have not been able to survive the "cold winter" of the epidemic. According to the "2021 Book Retail Market Report", last year, the scale of the mainland book retail market was 98.68 billion yuan, which has not yet returned to the pre-epidemic level. Among them, the online store channel yard size was 77.48 billion yuan, and the physical store code yang scale was only 21.2 billion yuan, compared with 2019, there was a negative growth of 31.09%.
Peng Mingbang, the founder of Niche Bookstore, now runs another bookstore, Yonghe Bookstore. Peng Mingbang believes that the survival dilemma of physical bookstores is not only due to the epidemic, but the trend of the industry, and he thinks more about where will a single physical bookstore go without capital support?
As for why there is such a trend in physical bookstores, Wei Pengju, dean of the Institute of Culture and Economics of the Central University of Finance and Economics, said that books are ultimately a medium, and the overall trend of the media is diversified and integrated. From the supply side, digital publishing has increased, books have gradually shifted to streaming media, online resources are easy to obtain, and reading costs are low; from the demand side, bookstores are providing reading space at the same time, their site restrictions are also inherently short, and people's reading is being replaced by more convenient and fragmented ways.
Various models of transformation "self-help" exploration
A recent incident impressed Xing Na. At a book event at a bookstore, a writer mentioned a book, and the first reaction of a girl present was "I look at the online shopping platform." "But we are a bookstore here," Xing Na felt helpless. She feels that "buying books online" has become a habit for many readers, and the impact of online bookstores on physical bookstores can be seen.
The repeated superposition of the epidemic on the change of reading habits has tested the "anti-pressure" ability of physical bookstores. Some bookstores began to integrate resources, innovate and explore the road of "self-help".
Located in a small alley on Sanhuqiao South Road in Haidian District, the Humanistic Archaeology Bookstore is a bookstore specializing in archaeological books, with more than 11,000 kinds of books in the store. Hong Xia, the store manager, said that the niche seems to be a disadvantage but also an advantage.
Because the books are complete and the content is profound, the readers of the humanistic archaeology bookstore are very sticky. In addition, in order to expand sales channels, the bookstore opened its own online store in 2012, and now it is also cooperating with the publishing house to recommend new books on social platforms and increase endogenous motivation by integrating online and offline.
The picture shows the interior of the Yonghe Library
Yonghe Bookstore and Xiaozhong Bookstore chose to gather popularity through activities such as signing sales parties and book clubs. According to reports, the niche bookstore is also an independent publishing studio, the setting of the "front shop and back society" makes the bookstore a window for external display, providing readers with the opportunity to contact books and experience reading, and the profitability of publications through various channels gives the bookstore sufficient confidence to operate. Not only that, Peng Mingbang also used the time after the closure of the store to arrange interest courses such as calligraphy, guqin, poetry, etc., to promote the bookstore to become a place for lifelong learning.
In recent years, the "bookstore + N" model has become a common path for the transformation and exploration of physical bookstores.
Wei Pengju said that exploring the road of "self-help" shows that bookstores are advancing with the times and are also manifestations of the integration of cultural industries, but the creation of bookstore space needs to be based on book culture.
"There must be a way out"
How to let physical bookstores harvest economic benefits while advocating reading and disseminating culture, so as to achieve longer development, is a problem that the book publishing and sales industry and even the whole society have been concerned about, and the answer to this question is also related to the future of physical bookstores.
Since the issuance of the Guiding Opinions on Supporting the Development of Physical Bookstores, Beijing has successively issued a series of policies to support physical bookstores through housing rent subsidies, multi-format integration development incentives and government purchase services.
"In addition to the financial subsidies to a certain extent to alleviate the survival pressure of bookstores, the policy is more supported by the brand influence of bookstores, creating a good environment for the sustainable development of bookstores, and we are confident that bookstores will open better." Peng Mingbang said.
The picture shows the interior of the Humanistic Archaeology Bookstore.
"With the overall progress of society, people may be tired of fragmented, surfing, shallow reading, deep reading will return, and book reading will become a trend again." Wei Pengju suggested that in addition to government financial subsidies, bookstore operations can also be promoted through bookstore recruitment volunteers and public welfare fund support, calling on the whole society to pay attention to physical bookstores.
Some insiders believe that no matter how the form of knowledge and information carriers develops and changes, the unique role of bookstores will not change. By improving the level of operation and management, we should promote the specialization of the selection team and the scene of cultural space, and enlarge the charm and attractiveness of reading. "If you can accurately tap the demand and gather the customer circle that suits your own format, there must be a way out."
Source: Workers Daily (Reporter: Shi Binna)
Editor of this issue: Dou Xiaotao
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