Affected by Internet and e-books, Ji'nan's physical bookstore is in crisis.
the Ji'nan times
"I have hardly bought books in the physical Bookstore since I was reading university." Xiao Tan is the customer of many network bookstores, and sometimes they will go to the online bookstore after reading the new shelves. "Friends around me are basically buying books on the Internet. Most of the books bought in bookstores are old people who don't understand or do not like the Internet." With the promotion of e-books, many friends of Xiao Tan have even been reluctant to spend money on books, and they have a long way to go to work. They usually read novels by mobile phones. Li Zhen Intern of our newspaper reporter Li Dan
"under the impact of network and e-book, the space of the entity bookstore is getting smaller and smaller. In the future, books may only be collectibles and luxuries." White Feng, the manager of Ji'nan's Sanlian bookstore, sighs so. But without the physical bookstore, where did the readers go? Reporters recently visited private entity bookstores in Ji'nan, and visited their survival situation.
the fate of the private entity bookstore is worried about
in the triplex Bookstore located in the two floor of spring music workshop, the bookstore is furnished with antique and some private library buildings. However, the exquisite decoration and elegant style did not bring many customers to the bookstore. It was quiet all afternoon, and none of the customers. "It would be nice to sell more than ten books a day." Sitting in the office, Baifeng, the manager of Sanlian bookstore, smoked and sighed to reporters.
in 1994, Bai Feng opened the Ji'nan branch of the trilogy bookstore near the Shandong College of Arts, Ji'nan culture east road. The bookstore was located only in the humanities and social sciences. Although the shop is small, it covers all kinds of social science books, especially the western academic library, the Chinese translation classics of the business Art Museum and so on. "The best time we did was in the second half of the 90s of last century. It was on the Eastern Road of culture, and there were many nearby universities. College students and teachers went to me to buy books. Every night, people were filled with Bao Duicheng hill. At that time, the professors at the University knew very well about our bookstores. In class, they often told the students, "what new books have come to the triplet Bookstore recently, and you go to see it." "Today's social atmosphere is changing, college students are not the same as before, like reading, a bookstore on the immovable students, now is very few." Liu Ying, the lover of Bai Feng and the financial manager of the triad bookstore, even talked about the "Kung Yi", which he used to visit. "In the early days, it was true that someone would steal books. It seems that it is not easy to steal books, and you think how much he likes books to steal."
in order to survive, the Sanlian bookstore is easy to address, from the east of culture to the doorway of the Pearl Spring Hotel, to the digital port of the mountain road, and finally to the Spring Festival, but this has not greatly improved the operation of the bookstore. "Now is a day to pay for one day, to today has lost two sets of houses," Bai Feng said helplessly, "after this, the rental contract expires, we have to close the door."
the same fate is also worrying about Zhiyuan bookstore: all stores have a total loss, of which the Lishan Road shop loses 2.3 million yuan a year. "From morning till night, people are always looking at them all day." Tian Yuan, a manager of Zhiyuan bookstore, told reporters that in order to save costs, the bookstore rented some of the shops to the sea cucumber shops when it was forced to do so. "Selling sea cucumbers in a bookstore is not good, but there is no way out."
profitable, open Bookstore no profit
bookshop as "exhibition hall", selling books into chicken ribs
Ji'nan hero mountain cultural market, at the time of the weekend, pedestrians bustling, traders are busy selling antique calligraphy and painting, jade stationery, and many snacks. Compared with the bustling streets, the bookshops on both sides of the street are deserted. "3 years ago, there were more than 300 private bookstores, and only dozens left today. Now there are much more books and jade on the market than selling books. Mr. Zhang of the park bookstore has been in the hero mountain culture market for more than ten years. "Our bookstore only sells test books, it has also opened a branch in Changqing University City, and the branch has already closed down." Mr. Zhang told reporters that selling books is now "chicken ribs", to maintain good. Compared with other bookstores, his bookstore is a little better, but for a long time, the supplementary book is obviously not a safe haven. "There are too many kinds of supplementary books, and inevitably there are some piracy cases. And the most important factor is the supply of more than demand - the number of students gradually reduced, and the teaching auxiliary books have a strong seasonal nature, but also bear the impact of electronic books, online book purchase, so that not only private small bookstores can not survive, even private small publishing houses are not accepted, the whole book publishing industry will also be subject to The impact. "
in the interview, many respondents mentioned that the impact of online bookstores on physical bookstores is a very important factor. "More and more people come to the bookstore only to see if they don't buy them, or to write down the titles or take photos, and then go home and buy them from the online bookstore." In February of this year, the network bookstore, such as Dangdang network, also introduced the "book cover scan" function of the mobile phone client, which made the books naturally become the "sample" of the online store, and the entity bookstore became the "exhibition hall". Bai Feng told reporters that the online bookstore can get 50 percent off or even lower discount prices from the publishing house, while the entity bookstore has a maximum of about 35% off. "Sometimes the selling price of the online bookstore is lower than the price I entered in the book." "We have done web sites, but we have no advantages compared with Dangdang network and outstanding net," he told reporters. "We have no advantages. They have plenty of money and a mature logistics network."
leave a pulse book
looking forward to the government's help
to face all kinds of challenges, private entity bookstores how to break out into a difficult problem. Reporters learned that in many large cities, physical bookstores are becoming experiential entities, providing customers with three-dimensional, multi-level purchase experience. It is no longer a rare thing to combine the bookstore with the cafe, the water bar, the game hall and the art exhibition hall, and the Taiwan sincere goods bookstore has also moved the kitchen and lecture into the bookstore. "Academic books should have scholars' lectures, and socio cultural books should have cultural salons. The bookstore has become a gathering place for cultural activities and has become a truly cultural landmark. " A teacher at the Shandong University thinks so.
in order to survive, Ji'nan private entity bookstore has also made various adjustments for self-help. In the Sanlian bookstore, some works related to "culture", such as calligraphy, painting, folding fan and purple sand pot, are also displayed and sold on the outside. "This can ease the management of bookstores," Bai Feng told reporters that he will retain his own characteristics in the selection of books, insist on doing high-end books and excellent books, in the choice of "by-products", will do some taste, intension of art, "also strive to sell books to sell 'culture."
in addition, both the triad bookstore and the remote Bookstore have invited some writers, scholars and artists to organize the activities similar to the reading salon, but the effect is not ideal. Bai Feng said that some college students and young readers came to the shop not to buy books, but to take a picture of them. The bookstore became a place for young people to get together. Bai Feng said he wanted to diversify the bookstore and provide more value-added services, such as making coffee shops to feed the bookstore, but it was hard to change the business model because of the lack of money. "To be honest, it is not enough to rely solely on private entity bookstores to help themselves at present."
and in fact, although a lot of people have bought books from the Internet, but still a lot of people like physical bookstores, Sina micro-blog recently launched a micro activity, collection of 100 reasons for the existence of physical bookstores, of which 911 said: "like paper and ink, only in the entity bookstore, walk through a row of bookshelves, finger touched finger touched" A book that is carefully arranged can really satisfy its little literary and artistic complex, and do not let these exist only in memories.
can the entity bookstore be able to seek government assistance? It is known to reporters that in foreign countries, the practice of supporting physical bookstores, especially small and medium bookstores, has long been common practice: France has long been exempt from Bookstore income tax, Canada pays half the cost of buying computer equipment for independent bookstores, and Japan and South Korea make the lowest books. The discount is to protect the entity bookstore and the online bookstore on the equal stage of competition. Not long ago, the Shanghai municipal government contributed $5 million to 35 private bookstores in this year's World Book Day.
the British poet Donne said, "after all, a bookshop closes is not the same as a restaurant closet. If no one buys a book and no one sells books, the culture of this country is finished." Hopefully, under the hard work of the people of insight, the private entity bookstore can slowly get out of the cold winter, let us leave a vein of book and a spiritual habitat in the city of reinforced concrete.