Brick-and-mortar bookstores make comeback in China

　　Brick-and-mortar bookshops across China have seen customers returning and sales growing in the Chinese New Year, indicating a robust recovery in the book retail sector.

A child reads in Beijing Zhongshuge Bookstore in Xidan Galeries Lafayette. The design of the store features elements from Chinese classical gardens. (pic.gmw.cn /Han Han) 

　　According to incomplete statistics, nearly 200,000 citizens went to bookshops in Beijing during the Spring Festival. The sales volume of over 160 offline bookstores exceeded 20 million yuan (about $2.92 million), while two large-scale shops, Wangfujing Bookstore and Beijing Book Building, saw sales surpassing 1 million yuan each. Many others also saw an increase of over 50 percent in their value of retail sales year on year.

　　"The most difficult time is over. Our shop is confident it can provide more high-quality publications this year, and contribute to the reading atmosphere of our city," said Xu Jin, head of the marketing center of Beijing Book Building, who added that books on politics, traditional culture, and social science sold particularly well.

　　Wangfujing Bookstore received over 100,000 customers in January 2023, a sharp rise compared to the level of December 2022, statistics showed. One customer who travelled a long way to get here said, "If you want to choose books carefully, an offline bookstore is a better option."

　　Footfall at the Beijing Book Building in January neared 200,000, with children's books, literature and culture being the most popular genres.

　　According to Shang Sijia, manager of Beijing Zhongshuge Bookstore in Xidan Galeries Lafayette, the store had fewer than 10 customers a day at the height of the COVID-19 epidemic in the past three years. "Our store had about 570 customers a day this January, and some tourists from outside Beijing came to buy books during the Spring Festival. This boosted our confidence, though the footfall hasn't recovered to pre-pandemic levels."

　　"We shared information on reading activities in online chat groups, and the activities were booked up very quickly," said Shang. "Many readers weren’t enthusiastic about these activities due to COVID-19 in the past, but now, they have made a robust comeback," Shang added.

　　Zhongshuge, which has opened 42 chain stores in multiple Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Xi'an, attracted over 860,000 customers in January, up by more than 20 percent year on year.

　　Similar scenes were seen in China's countryside. Shaxi Bai Ethnic Bookstore in Beilong village, Jianchuan county, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Yunnan Province received over 30,000 customers in January, more than five times the store’s footfall during last year’s Spring Festival, according to Hu Jiao, manager of the store. "Quite a few customers are tourists from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Sichuan and Chongqing," Hu said.

　　With a business area of some 600 square meters, the granary-turned bookshop mainly sells books on literature, poetry and Yunnan culture. Its turnover in January surged 300 percent year-on-year to some 850,000 yuan.

　　In addition to selling books, today's stores have also become a stage for spreading and inheriting culture. Wangfujing Bookstore has invited inheritors of intangible cultural heritage to teach kite-making and other traditional handicrafts, while many other bookstores have held similar cultural events to bring traditional Chinese culture closer to people's lives.