Old shops, new shops and small shops, seeking change, innovation and breakthrough-the spring of physical bookstores is coming.

　　Our reporter Lu Yanxia

　　The spring of 2023 has come. What is the living situation of Beijing’s physical bookstores? What are the new plans for the future? What impact does Beijing’s physical bookstore support policy bring? Recently, the reporter visited a number of bookstores in Beijing and found that the physical bookstores in Beijing, which have crossed the epidemic, are relying on their own innovation, change and breakthrough, and have benefited from the support policies of the physical bookstores in Beijing and ushered in their own spring.

　　Xinhua Bookstore Wenyuhe Pastoral Store.

　　Xinhua News Agency China News Bookstore.

　　"Small" Bookstore Seeking Breakthrough

　　In the process of visiting bookstores, it is obvious that a number of minority bookstores in Beijing are full of vitality, and they have opened up a new world with tenacity and hard work.

　　The spectator bookstore and jar bookstore are both located in the 798 Art Zone in Chaoyang District. After market scouring, the two bookstores have lived their lives with their distinctive and unique personalities.

　　Outside the bookstore, the recommended books on the handwritten board are particularly eye-catching, and then enter the bookstore. The small space is simple and low-key, but readers are standing everywhere. The books here are all in the stock of the publishing house, with good taste. They are carefully selected by Wu Min, the manager of the bookstore, and her team members with years of experience and keen eyes. "Most of these books have the characteristics of large stock and low discount in circulation, which allows us to give full play to the advantages of product selection, and ensure the rapid update of bookstore varieties and smooth cash flow by cash settlement and discount sales." Wu Min also revealed that last year, the bookstore upgraded its reading space and removed the drink area to highlight its concentration and professionalism. The brand-new bookstore attracts more readers, and even tens of thousands of people come to the store during the Spring Festival this year.

　　The jar bookstore, which is not far from the spectator bookstore, is also quite individual. Bookstore takes art books as the core, and attracts readers firmly in the bookstore with rich art activities and warm interactive activities. Zhang Xiaoqiang, the founder of Pot Bookstore, said: "Beijing’s support policies have made us more daring to invest. Now, with the increase of tourists in the park, the sales of art books are also increasing, and we will continue to provide more professional high-quality books and professional value-added services for art and collection people in the future."

　　Yonghe Bookstore, located in the center of Yonghe Palace in Hangxingyuan, is also a small bookstore, featuring signature books. Founder Peng Mingbang told reporters that since the beginning of this year, signed books can sell 2,000 copies a month, and at the same time, they are actively expanding their business online. "A small video can sell books of more than 5,600 yuan, which makes people see hope." Peng Mingbang revealed that this year, we will also explore the operation of community bookstores to realize the leap from niche bookstores to mass bookstores. "Everyone is a reader, and every family is a reader. This slogan is the direction we will strive for in the future."

　　Kingdee Industrial Park in Shunyi District is fascinated by Planet Book Island.

　　New ideas of "new" bookstore

　　Some bookstores are not in the bustling downtown, but they will still attract readers to drive dozens of kilometers. Like the sunshine in spring, they bring hope to the development of physical bookstores. During the visit, two new bookstores focusing on children’s reading attracted special attention.

　　Music, Dance and Reading is located in Miyun Blue Mountain Cultural Park. Art, children’s literature and classic Chinese and foreign picture books are the main books. The comfortable reading area is filled with the fragrance of coffee, which brings a pleasant atmosphere for reading. Pan Xiaolong, the manager of the bookstore, said that before opening the bookstore, he worked in a dance training institution for four years and had nearly a thousand students. He opened a bookstore to accompany everyone through reading, so as to improve his comprehensive cultural literacy.

　　This bookstore does have many novel ideas. There is a storage station in the bookstore. Parents can choose a book to store in the storage station. When the child comes to the bookstore again, the book will become a birthday gift full of surprises. Not only that, Pan Xiaolong also dismantled every picture book, recorded his own voice, interpreted the contents of the book in the form of music and dance, and created his own unique brand.

　　The fascinating planet book island located in Kingdee Industrial Park in Shunyi District is also a beautiful existence. The whole floor-to-ceiling windows, combined with the outdoor environment, sunlight, water system and green plants create an atmosphere close to nature, and the wooden bookshelves with more than three meters on both sides make the book suddenly overflow the whole space.

　　This is a "book island" with the theme of space and planet, covering an area of 870 square meters. In order to create an immersive reading experience, Julie, the founder of Fascinating Planet Book Island, divided the bookstore into car science theme houses, Harry Potter theme houses and natural science reading houses according to the age of children, with more than ten spaces. Among them, the Harry Potter theme room contains all the versions of Harry Potter books, including encyclopedias and movie illustrated, as well as the original English version and some latest reading lists. "Children and parents prefer to have comfortable reading space, so we combine the advantages of space environment and resources to create an immersive reading experience space for them." Julie said.

　　Hangxingyuan Yonghe Palace One Center Yonghe Bookstore.

　　The "old" bookstore will start again.

　　This spring, the "old" bookstore, full of years of precipitation, shows a new attitude of being determined to explore and keep moving forward, showing the infinite vitality of Beijing’s physical bookstores.

　　"Parent-child picture book story salon — — "Spring Equinox Picking Spring Tea" Picture Book Handicraft Activity will be held this weekend in Wenyuhe Garden Store of Shunyi Xinhua Bookstore. Shunyi Xinhua Bookstore, which has a history of 76 years, opened this bookstore in 2022.

　　The bookstore is located in Wenyuhe Park, the "green lung" of Beijing. The natural beauty outside the window echoes the indoor log color, which makes people completely relax. Since its opening, this bookstore has been on the list of online celebrity’s punching places in Beijing’s reading space with its rich book categories and special products, and "glass curtain wall", "Little Bear Milk Tea" and "Sunrise in Wenyu River" have become the "online celebrity" in readers’ minds. Zhang Xiumei, general manager of Shunyi Xinhua Bookstore Co., Ltd. said that the bookstore will strive to build a comprehensive bookstore integrating reading, activities, light meals and other multi-functional spaces, so that readers can enjoy a better life outside the book.

　　China News Bookstore is also an old bookstore with a history of nearly 40 years. The history of Xinhua News Agency is deposited in every part of the bookstore, which makes this bookstore unique with red genes. Yang Jing, general manager of China News Bookstore, revealed that this year, the bookstore trend has been improving, and Xinhua News Agency has vacated two more houses for the bookstore, which, together with the original 300 square meters, will reach 500 square meters. "At that time, we will combine the historical display of Xinhua News Agency with books to bring new experiences to readers." Not only that, but also a street reading park will be built outside the bookstore, which is currently in active operation. "We can receive real money subsidies from Beijing every year and solve great difficulties." Yang Jing said that with these supports, bookstores dare to make new attempts and explorations.

　　Located in the Peony Science and Technology Park in Haidian District, the other side bookstore has a history of 15 years. Music, running water, books, and various study rooms hidden behind the books make this old bookstore full of rich humanistic colors. Zhao Yuechao, the manager of the bookstore, told the reporter a piece of good news, "We put 90% of our energy into books, tea is also sold well, there are more activities, and the success rate of contract negotiation in the bookstore is also very high." He said that if the story of the book is told thoroughly, the bookstore can live better.

　　Zhao Yuechao lamented that the bookstore has come all the way, which can be described as "a narrow escape". "We have received government subsidies from physical bookstores since 2018, and we have persisted all the way. After the Spring Festival this year, business started to be particularly good." It is worth mentioning that in order to tell the story of the book thoroughly, this old bookstore began to play installation art, so that every good book can gain new life by artistic expression.

　　"The installation art in front of me is actually to better sell the Argentine writer Borges’s science fiction" The Garden with Bifurcated Paths ". The story was upside down in the end, so we deliberately messed it up. At the same time, I put "Parallel Universe" in it. " Zhao Yuechao said that this kind of installation art aroused readers’ curiosity, and 40 books of Garden with Bifurcated Paths were sold out at one time.