It's World Book Day again.
Last year, when people talked about physical bookstores, the most discussed was the "Shanghai Book City" located in Shanghai Culture Street, Fuzhou Road. Many people are looking forward to the return of this cultural landmark, which was still being renovated at the time, with great interest.
When the doors of Shanghai Book City opened to the public on October 28 last year with the concept of "Books as a City", people found that in addition to the more than 100,000 books that were placed in an orderly manner for reading and purchasing, a new cultural life was welcoming them.
But in fact, it's not just the book city. In Huangpu, the most densely populated urban area in Shanghai, there are 26 large and medium-sized bookstores in an area of 18.71 square kilometers, as well as many small bookstores. And when people actually walk into these physical bookstores, they will also find that they have already jumped from simple reading spaces to cultural and living spaces with new concepts.
Cultivate the habit of reading more people
A few days ago, Desi Tong, a student at NYU Shanghai from Turkey, enjoyed a unique English talk show at the Shanghai Book City, visiting bookstores, drinking coffee, and watching performances. ”
This coincides with the original design of Yu Ting, the designer of Shanghai Book City: Shanghai Book City should be transformed from a bookstore into a cultural complex with many applications, commercial and social scenes on the platform of knowledge sharing. He believes that "the book city should be designed for more people who have not yet developed the habit of reading, so that they can enter the bookstore, and only in their hands can the bookstore really come to life." ”
Now when you walk into the Shanghai Book City and walk up the escalator, you will see 16 rooms in a room surrounded by bookshelves, which hide a talk show theater, a writer's study, a health class, an art museum and a café. After passing through the bookshelves on both sides, there are light meals, tea houses, galleries, cafes, art furniture stores, gift shops, and stationery stores. Yu Ting said that when he led others along the street through buildings, atriums, and overpasses to the top floor, the most he heard the emotion was: "This is a cultural city walk." ”
It can be said that this is a challenge to the glorified collective memory of Shanghai Book City and Yu Ting. Now, half a year after the reopening of the Shanghai Book City, about 10,000 people visit it every day, and this figure is what 80% of the shopping malls in Shanghai want. Yang Jie, Director of Operations of Shanghai Book City, said that during the renovation, Shanghai Book City put forward the concept of "a place for reading and a city of unbounded wisdom", "Cafes, special restaurants, stationery stores, and trendy toy halls on each floor are the new 'skin' that gives Shanghai Book City a comprehensive and modern color, making Shanghai Book City no longer just a place to buy and read books, but also a comprehensive cultural consumption 'new city'." ”
When the space is large, there is an eclectic elegance
The comprehensive operation model also makes Shanghai Book City willing to accept the entry of an independent bookstore with an inclusive attitude. During this year's Lantern Festival, Xinchao Bookstore, the first women's bookstore in Shanghai, officially launched the "2.0 Chapter" in Shanghai Book City.
"A city needs a women's bookstore. This is a sentence that Wang Xia, the founder of Xinchao Book House, often hangs on his lips. At the end of 2020, Xinchao Book House opened in No. 8 Bridge Creative Park in Huangpu District. In the past three years, the bookstore, which focuses on women, has held more than 500 salons, held a monthly book sharing session for female writers, and held a weekly intensive reading session of "Dream of Red Mansions", serving more than 50,000 female readers online and offline.
From the beginning of her decision to open an independent bookstore, Wang Xia was not afraid of the competition brought about by the bunching of bookstores, "We are all serving readers, and each other's business formats can form different characteristics." Now that she has settled in the Book City, she hopes that the women's reading system can use the platform of the Shanghai Book City to serve the whole people to read, convey the power of women, shape the city's temperament with the fragrance of books, and light up the city with reading.
Zhao Feng, General Manager of Shanghai Book City, said, "It is our common expectation to build a professional 'women's book house' in the large and comprehensive Shanghai Book City to attract accurate readers. Hope Book City and Book House 'You have me, I have you'. ”
From a young age, this is the effect of "1+1>2" between Shanghai Book City and Xinchao Book House, and from a higher perspective, it is also a reflection of Huangpu's profound cultural heritage and its ability to tolerate and cultivate the survival and development of all kinds of personalized bookstores.
Here, the poetry still exists, and the ideal is not extinguished
Three years ago, Fan Liqun, a "post-90s" generation, saw an article on the Internet, saying that many bookstores had "fallen", which made him, who loves to write poetry, arouse a poetic idea that has been hidden in his heart for a long time, that is, to open a bookstore related to poetry, fill the space with poetry collections, and sprinkle poems all over the corners.
Where should this first poetry bookstore in Shanghai be opened? Fan Liqun fell in love with the storefront at No. 19 Shaoxing Road at a glance, "Two floors, and an underground space, it's so suitable!" During the renovation, the uncle in the neighborhood always came to chat with Fan Liqun, "He told me that Shaoxing Road is the most cultured street in Shanghai, there are many publishing houses, and Leslie Cheung's favorite Hanyuan bookstore." Fan Liqun became more and more convinced that Puff Cloud Bookstore's decision to open on Shaoxing Road was done right, "Shaoxing Road is suitable for opening a bookstore, and there should also be a bookstore." ”
Since its opening, Puff Cloud Bookstore has been completely "integrated" into the residences, schools, bars, Kunqu Opera troupe, and publishing house on Shaoxing Road. In addition to young readers, neighbors in the neighborhood often go into the bookstore to order a cup of coffee, sit for a while, and flip through the pages. Fan Liqun feels that this is the greatest significance of the existence of a bookstore, and only in an inclusive city can there be room for the development of such a bookstore.
Because of this, the declaration of Puff Cloud Bookstore "Here, the poetry still exists, and the ideal is not extinguished" is even more meaningful. "Poetry" and "ideal" also reveal a possibility - in Huangpu, you can try it with the thinking of never opening a bookstore.
It's all about bringing art back to life
Those who have no experience in opening a bookstore can do it, but so can NAIVE Ideal Country, which has a wealth of publishing experience. As a physical store opened by a publishing brand, Naive has thousands of books in the ideal country. However, unlike traditional bookstores, NAIVE Ideal Country presents people with a multi-functional space and complex format integrating books, coffee, and cocktails.
On the eve of the 2023 National Day, NAIVE Ideal Country opened its third store in Rock Bundyuan, Shanghai. For a long time, the neighborhood where the Bund is located has played the role of a cultural hub. It was home to China's first public museum, the first modern gallery and the most prestigious theater.
The NAIVE ideal country, which coexists with historical buildings, also creates another possibility in a region where different cultures are intertwined—to "edit" every coffee and every glass of wine with the attitude of making a book, hoping to convey the imagery in the book to the "readers" of the drink through the five senses more accurately in the limited presentation. In this bookstore, located at the source of the "International Architecture Exposition" on the Bund, one of the "bridges" that people talk about is the cocktail named after the works of art of 12 countries, inviting guests to take a "trip" that belongs to the Bund in the "writer's room".
Of course, no matter how many possibilities and forms are presented, the "ideal" of naive has never changed: let ideas fall into practice and let art return to life.
Big data, space design, integrated business formats, and personalized services are becoming the direction of survival and development of all kinds of bookstores. So has the spring of brick-and-mortar bookstores arrived, and what will it look like in the future? But it is almost certain that the boundaries of the bookstore will continue to be broken, and it will become a unique cultural experience and living space that more people participate in, and at a large scale, it will even become an extension of the cultural and historical space of the neighborhood or even the entire city.
This is what people are already able to see. But the future of bookstores cannot be overstated.
Reporter / Liu Yi
Editor / Huang Qianwen
Photo / Huangpu Rong media kit
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