With the popularization of the Internet, the diversification of cultural consumption and the rise in operating costs, since entering the new century, the operation of physical bookstores has become more and more difficult, facing the difficult choice of transformation or closure. But in britain, a hay town with only 2,000 people has revitalized the decaying town by selling second-hand books, and has also driven the economic and tourism development of the whole town, making it the most bookish town in the UK and even in the whole of Europe, and also becoming a place that book lovers around the world yearn for!
So, where does the strong attraction of the British town of Hay come from, and how does it respond to the impact of online book cities on physical bookstores?
<h1 style="text-align: left;" > an April Fool's Joke that makes a bookish paradise</h1>
Located on the border between Wales, England and southwest England, hay town dates back to the first Morty and Bailey Castle, the city walls, built in 1100, and Hay Castle in 1200. Later, with the development of industrialization and the destruction of the town by the Second World War, the original agricultural town gradually declined.
In 1961, Richard Booth, a young graduate of Oxford University, changed all that.
Richard Booth returned to his hometown Hay after graduation, hoping to spread literature and mobilize reading culture to the residents of Hay Town, who have few readers, through the used book market, and secondly, he could also publicize the long castle of his hometown town and establish a unique cultural and historical atmosphere.
However, the driving force behind him to make second-hand books is not the literary complex of loving reading, but the American human rights movement has pushed many libraries to the cusp of the storm and given many opportunities to book recipients. Booth seized the opportunity to purchase more than 3,000 paperback books from all over the country, and bought the town's original old cinema, fire station, chapel, abandoned factory and castle ruins, transforming it into a second-hand bookstore with its own characteristics.
In order to collect all kinds of old books, he traveled to special bookstores around the world, and also actively advertised castles and bookstores in regional newspapers and periodicals, but with little success. But he always believed that second-hand books would eventually be needed.
In 1976, he was successfully declared the person with the most second-hand books in the Guinness Book of World Records, and as a result, he became famous with the town, and many book lovers opened second-hand bookstores as they migrated here to follow his example, and the growth rate of bookstores continued to increase.
Booth thus came up with the idea of turning hay town into a second-hand book town, a gathering place for old books in the world. Therefore, he set up a used book acquisition office in the United States to expand the scale of book collection, and also put forward requirements for stall owners who followed the trend and opened shops in the town, requiring them to learn something, and each bookstore should focus on each other and have its own characteristics, so as to ensure the quality of the book market.
Among the second-hand bookstores in Hay Town, there are both exquisitely decorated boutique bookstores that only sell rare out-of-print rare editions of antique books, as well as self-service bookstores that stand on the mountain and stand by the mountains, such as self-service bookstores that are unguarded and self-consciously coin-operated, as well as poetry bookstores that specialize in selling poetry books, and subdivided bookstores that collect themes such as detectives, children, and movies.
In this way, there are more and more bookstores in the town, reaching the result of opening a bookstore for every 30 permanent residents, and also transforming many local abandoned or aging architectural spaces, making each bookstore have its own characteristics and becoming a beautiful local landscape.
Although the town at this time has gradually formed a complete second-hand book industry chain, the real fame of the town is a joke from April Fool's Day in 1977.
On the day of 1977, Booth held an ornate coronation ceremony in his castle, declaring the independence of the town and proclaiming himself the "King of Hay", and since then he has ruled all the bookstores in the town of Hay. He also awarded his horse the title of Prime Minister, invited friends to write the Declaration of Independence, designed the "National Flag", and sold Hai's passports and titles at a clear price, and issued an edict requiring "subjects" to ban the use of cars and use horses in order to purify the town's environment.
This self-proclaimed joke made Hay Town famous overnight, and was reported by the world's major media, bringing a large number of visitors to the town and attracting more booksellers and book shoppers. By the 1990s, the shelves of bookstores were 17 kilometers long, and more than 1 million old books were on display.
In 2004, the Queen of the United Kingdom awarded Booth the Order of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), giving him the highest recognition for his contribution to the development of tourism. Tourism, driven by the book industry, has brought business opportunities and life to the town. The business model of renovating the town's abandoned buildings as a second-hand bookstore has also promoted the overall maintenance of the town's historical buildings and environment, and other industries such as boutique antique shops, book binding shops, hotels, restaurants, cafes, and shops have also been improved.
These second-hand booksellers and books also changed the appearance and décor of Hay's town, with bookshelves used as walls and mini shelves everywhere in the town.
With the gradual increase in the popularity of Hay Town's "Capital of Old Books", many precious second-hand rare editions and out-of-print books have been circulated here, and now there are 39 bookstores in the town, making this originally deserted and deserted border town the "world's largest second-hand bookstore" and the fourth largest tourist destination in Wales, attracting more than 1 million tourists every year, and 10% of the town's population works in the book industry chain.
After Hay Town became famous, Booth did not give up continuing to promote, and he still traveled around the world to promote his book town movement. As a result, 50 book towns have emerged in many countries such as the United States, France, Canada, the Netherlands, and Belgium, all of which are pleasant rural towns with pleasant scenery and far away from the hustle and bustle.
<h1 style="text-align: left;" > a cultural festival that made the town famous all over the world</h1>
In 1987, young actor Pietro Florence was optimistic about the local natural landscape and literary atmosphere, and founded the Hay Literary Festival, which began to hold a 10-day "Hay Literary Festival" from the end of May to the beginning of June.
Initially sponsored by the Sunday Times, the Festival of Literature was co-sponsored by the British Newspaper The Guardian and the local area of Hay Town, making the festival more and more influential, attracting a large number of tourists from Europe, and playing a role in promoting the revival and cultural dissemination of the historic town.
Every year, before the festival is held, the organizers will consult a wide range of people to determine that the most widely recognized popular writers and literary stars are invited. In a diverse and international style, many non-English-speaking writers have also been invited to participate in the event, which is a place for a large number of book buyers to trade with booksellers.
The festival not only gathers readers and booksellers from all over the world, but also becomes a place to convey the views and ideas of different professionals, and many poets, scientists, artists, actors, novelists, politicians, musicians, environmentalists, architects, etc. have shared different stories and ideas through lectures, forums, writers' meetings, concerts, and various literary criticism promotions. With more than 300 events during the festival, even people of different languages are free to taste literature here.
As it grew in fame, the festival moved from the center of the town to Brecon Beacons National Park. In recent years, the activities of the literary festival have been further expanded, including music performances, film reviews and children's art festivals, in addition to books and literary works, people can also find food, wine tasting, repertoire, music, art and other topics to communicate, not only to enjoy the performances of famous singers and musicians at close range, but also many Well-known British celebrities to perform. The Beatles' Paul McCartney also launched his poetry collection Blackbird Singing at the festival.
The Hay Literary Festival focuses on exploring literary issues and opportunities for exchange, operated spontaneously by the people, with no government participation, no ribbon cutting, no opening ceremony and closing ceremony, very few activities such as authors signing and selling books, and vigilance against excessive commercialization and short-term success. Today, the "Hay Literary Festival" is one of the largest national reading events in the United Kingdom, and it is also a world-renowned literary and artistic event.
<h1 style="text-align: left;" > hold fast to a belief that keeps the town a century-old</h1>
There are a large number of protected buildings in hay town with a history of nearly a thousand years, of which Hay Castle is a first-class protected building, and there are 144 second-class protected buildings, and many protected buildings have made the town a unique historical town by the British Archaeological Commission in 1964.
The town's street system also retains its original layout, with the three main streets Broad Street, Lion Street and Heoly Dwr Street forming the spatial framework of the entire town. After 1970, bookstores, various types of retail trade and tourism developed rapidly, but apart from the demolition of several buildings in the town center to expand the square space, the plots divided during the medieval period remained largely unchanged and remained intact. Even with a million visitors a year, the town still maintains its original quaint historical style and a clean, relaxed and leisurely atmosphere.
The reason why the town can be maintained so well is due to the laws and regulations of the government on protected areas and the high sense of protection of the local residents.
In 1990, the town enacted the Planning (Registered Buildings and Protected Areas) Act, which strengthened the responsibilities of the local planning bureau for protected areas. The demarcated area includes the overall architectural group including ancient monuments and historical buildings, and the content that needs to be protected includes the historical monuments composed of the entire entity, the scale scale of the preserved buildings, the arrangement and roof lines of the buildings proposed for protection, the details of doors and windows, and so on. The government will provide many kinds of door and window designs and detailed instructions.
As a result, bookstores, hotels, and retail outlets that developed after the 1970s and were converted from old abandoned buildings were also carried out in accordance with the rules for the renovation of the reserve. The street facades of the shops maintain their traditional character, making their street spaces more attractive by retaining their original flavor.
In order to meet the needs of the festival without destroying the traditional characteristics of the town, the main venue of the festival is set up on the far edge of the southwest corner of the town, mainly to build temporary buildings. There are shuttle buses that frequently travel between the main venue and the town's parking lot every day, thus avoiding the crowded situation in the town.
Some of the restaurants added to the Festival of Literature and Arts also maintain the traditional style of the local area. The town has also opened a tent camp outside the reserve, maintaining the quiet atmosphere of the town and greatly meeting the needs of tourists.
The central market has been an important core part of the town since its formation, and this custom has been preserved to this day. The town hosts weekly markets for produce and groceries at castle grounds, the courtyard of St. Mary's Church, Morty and Bailey Castle Heights, river walks along the Wye and Bailey rivers, Dulas Creek, Login Creek, and a section of the walled remains on the northeast side. The open space and landscape are also properly protected and maintained according to relevant plans and regulations.
Hay Town has successfully carried out commercial transformation through the establishment of the cultural characteristics of Book Town, and explored a sustainable development of the "Book Town" model, making it develop from an obscure agricultural town into a world-famous second-hand book paradise, a model of historical style protection and tourism development, and the reasons for its success are as follows:
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