“They’re saying that you’re about to open a bookshop. That shows you’re ready to chance some unlikely things.” —— an excerpt from Penelope Fitzgerald’s 1978 novel The Bookshop
In modern times, opening a brick-and-mortar bookstore can almost seem like a fool’s errand. Considering the proliferation of e-books and online shopping, the exorbitant cost of renting a storefront, and the new uncertainties that have arisen from the pandemic, it’s clear that the cards are stacked against physical bookshops now more than ever. A recent industry report of China’s bookstores outlines this grim reality with sobering statistics: between 2020 and 2021, for every new bookstore that opened, an average of 2.6 stores closed down. In this hostile environment, business acumen and clever marketing are essential to survival. But for a bookstore to truly succeed, what matters above all else are perhaps most dependent on the literature on offer and the people they’re meant for.
In Shanghai, a city where every inch of land is worth its weight in gold, there are still independent bookstores making it work. The existence of these places speaks not only to the tenacity of the owners but also to the fact that there are still a handful of pertinacious bookworms who accept no replacement for the tactile experience of reading a paperback.
No two bookstores are alike, and this is precisely what makes places such as Lekai Books, Melibrary, Rhino Bookstore, Distance Bookstore, Upper Bookstore, and Text&Image so irreplaceable. From the owner’s motivations to their curatorial approaches, every store is constantly changing, adapting, and hard at work in cultivating the local literary scene.
“他们都在说你打算开一家书店。那说明你准备好要向不可能的事情挑战。”
——佩内洛普·菲茨杰拉德《书店》，1978
步入 2022 年，书店似乎依旧是个“不可能的事”。特别是在经历了电商低价、电子书浪潮、房租上涨、疫情反复等冲击后，开不下去的书店并不少，但根据《2020-2021 中国实体书店产业报告》显示，2020 年，我国新开的书店新开书店是关闭的 2.6 倍。面对这个艰难的挑战，应题者不绝，谈模式谈策略，但说到底，热闹褪去后，活下来的书店离不开“书 ”和“人”。
在上海这个寸土寸金的地方，有这么几家独立书店，让“不可能的事”正在发生：因为开书店的人，也因为还会去书店买书的人，这种连结依靠的并非是“情怀”，而是日复一日不倦怠不罢休的经营与探索。活下来的书店，坚守有之，更重要的是如何面对变化。
没有一家书店是相同的——乐开书店、小茶书园、犀牛书店、远方书屋、半层书店、梯书店——在探访这些书店的过程中，这一点让人印象尤为深刻。从“开一家书店”到“开哪一种书店”，每一家书店都是在选择和反馈中不断前行。
Rhino Bookstore
犀牛书店
Situated alongside Suzhou River, Rhino Bookstore is a secondhand bookshop that has been through its share of ups and downs. Their first location opened in 2007, a distance away from downtown in the Minhang District. It shuttered its door just a year later, but the two then owners—Zhuang Jianguo and Ya Shu—refused to give up on their dreams so easily. Their next venture was a store specializing in poetry books, which similarly didn’t find footing. The two then split ways to open their own stores, with Ya reopening the poetry bookstore and Zhuang reopening Rhino Bookstore in a new location with his friend, Tou Tou.
The new location is a 30-square-meter store populated with wooden shelves loaded to the brim. The shop mostly deals in secondhand literature, all of which have been curated with a preference towards art, history, and philosophy. With their affordable but quality offerings, the space has become a place for literature lovers of all stripes. “We’re not just selling books,” says Tou. “The different editions we carry in our shop are what sets us apart.”
As he sees it, the differences between varying editions are one of the qualities that e-books can’t replace. Even though a book may have the same content and text, depending on the publishing date and the publisher, each print will be completely different. For true bookworms, these are an essential part of the literary experience.
To find the most sought-after editions of a book requires experience and industry know-how, which Zhuang and Tou are in no lack of. They regularly hunt down vintage books, searching through old markets and Taobao listings. When they come across a gem, they’ll spare no expense in purchasing it. For buyers in the know, the price is still a bargain for what they’re getting.
In 2015, before the new store opened, Zhuang even worked as a regular shop staff at an antique bookstore to better hone his eye for quality older books. Tou says that they were confident about opening this new store, and their past experiences have given them the resolve to weather any storm. “Improving the quality of our offerings, updating the literature on deck, and making the prices as affordable as possible are important to us,” he says. “We want to make sure that everyone who comes into our store can leave with a book they like.”
Address:
1040 N. Suzhou Road, A101
Jingan District, Shanghai
Hours:
14:00 ~ 20:30
位于苏州河畔的犀牛书店是一家感觉酷酷的旧书店——骨子里的酷是因为专业。2007 年，犀牛书店在莘庄开业，可惜一年之后就关了。书店里的两名店员庄见果和亚述没有放弃自己的书店梦，先是一起开了家诗歌书店，后来又分头开店，一家继续着诗歌书店“开闭开”，还有一家就是沿用了老名字但主营旧书的“犀牛书店”。
走进犀牛书店，30多平方米的面积里满满当当。书以文史哲为主，有定价亲民的优质读物，也有具有收藏价值的民国古籍和文玩，还有一个锁起来的柜子，是店主舍不得卖的但会和朋友们一起分享品鉴的宝贝。“其实我们不仅仅卖内容，更多的是会卖一个版本。”店主之一透透介绍说，她是后来加入犀牛，和小庄一起开店的朋友。书的版本，是电子书替代不了纸质书的一大因素——同样的内容，不同的出版社和年份也意味着不同的稿件质量和装帧排版，会带来不尽相同的持书体验，对于爱书之人来说，这一点并非无足轻重。
而选到好的版本，则需要店主丰富的专业知识和经验判断，店主小庄和透透在开书店前就是旧书市场的常客，他们逛鬼市、淘宝贝，对于看中的书不手软，也相信好的东西总会遇到懂的人。在 2015 年重开犀牛书店之前，小庄还特地在一家专门做古书的店里做过学徒。按照透透的说法，因为懂行才会开书店，所以没走过什么弯路，这么多年下来虽然几经搬迁，但也站稳了脚跟。“提高书的质量，保证上新频率，想办法让价格不那么贵，就是想让每一个进店的人都能买到自己喜欢的书。”在这里，就是把简单的道理做好。
地址：
上海静安区
北苏州路1040号A101
营业时间：
14:00 ~ 20:30
Upper Bookstore
半层书店
At 200 square meters, the sheer size of Upper Bookstore alone makes the independent bookstore a rarity in Shanghai. Its mezzanine, a key feature of the shop, has inspired the store name. Aside from the mezzanine, the space was fully renovated before opening its doors to the public in 2015.
The store originally focused on books written in simplified Chinese but now hosts an even larger selection of literature from Hong Kong and Taiwan, which come in traditional Chinese. This rich selection of books from Chinese-speaking regions outside the mainland set it apart from others in the city. Every book for sale has been handpicked by the management team, who lean towards human-interest literature that fall outside the bounds of mainstream. Aside from the content within a book’s pages, how it’s designed is another important factor they consider in the curation process. “Sometimes we’ll think we’re picking books that are too niche or obscure and worry about if people will even want to buy it,” says Wang Yi, the store manager. “But we ended up realizing a lot of people like this type of literature.”
Their unique selection has fostered a strong community of loyal readers who look forward to any new addition to their shelves. Wang admits that the store may sometimes feel daunting for new customers, but by having great titles on the shelves, people will naturally warm up to the store. Once they see the wide range of books available, customers require no additional convincing. The owners’ love of books shines in different ways throughout the space—from a sculpture crafted from salvaged books to a display on the second floor dedicated to books written about bookstores.
In response to the pandemic, Upper has trialed a number of new business models. They’ve hosted secondhand book exchanges, started a membership program, launched a paid-knowledge platform, and more. Despite these new additions, its reputation for quality has remained consistent.
Wang has been the manager ever since the store opened, and she believes its core ethos hasn’t wavered through thick and thin. “Even though its appearance has changed a lot, the store has stuck with its original philosophy,” she says. “It’s an inclusive place that welcomes all types of people and ideas. It won’t be easily steered away from its original direction by outside influence.”
Address:
129 Harbin Road
Hongkou District, Shanghai
Hours:
12:00 ~ 21:00
作为一家独立书店，半层书店 200 多平方米的面积显得大气而奢侈。店内重新设计的小半层结构也是店名的由来。自 2015 年装修开业以来，半层书店就一直在周围还遗留着老上海气息的哈尔滨路上低调而稳定地开放着。
半层一开始是以简体新书为主打经营，调整经营策略后港台引进图书的比例增高，占到五成左右，形成自己的选书特色。每一本书都是基于书店团队的喜好和审美水准精心挑选，内容和主题偏人文，看重装帧，有的书会比较小众，小众到店长王壹觉得“有时候我们会想这么小众的书谁会买，然后发现还挺多人喜欢的。”而正是这种“有一些书确实只有我们这儿有”的小众和独到，使得半层吸引了一批忠实的顾客。虽然王壹自称半层可能是一个比较高冷的书店，觉得将好书摆在书架上，就自然而然会和客人形成某种交流，无需多言，但半层对于“书”的珍爱之情会体现在一些细节上：他们会用旧书页做成精美的原创文创；会在一进门的推荐位及上楼的拐角黄金位摆上以书店和书为主题的书。
为了应对疫情带来的冲击，“高冷”的半层也在慢慢做加法：尝试会员体系、换书会、知识付费等各种路径增加营业额，难得的是每一项的策划和执行都不失创意和质感。店长王壹从半层开店第一年起在这里工作，她眼里的半层有着自己稳定的内核：“这几年虽然外部变化很多，但是我们自认为还是坚持在做我们想做的事情，未来也会继续这样的状态。半层书店会是一个冷静且包容的，欢迎爱书人的书店。”
地址:
上海虹口区
哈尔滨路129号
营业时间：
12:00 ~ 21:00
Distance Bookstore
远方书屋
With the pandemic, Upper Bookstore chose to increase its range of offerings and services, but Distance Bookstore’s method of survival was one of reduction.
Distance Bookstore is located on the second floor of a nondescript office building off of Suzhou Road. The owner, Zhou Ying, admits that when she decided to open the store in 2016, she went in with a rather naive mindset. “It was tough,” she notes but says that she was aware of the challenges that she’d face. Aside from just selling books, the store also peddles coffee, set meals, and can be rented out for small events. Even with these additional profit streams, the shop barely scraped by.
“I went in assuming that books alone wouldn’t be profitable, so I wanted to implement these other ideas,” she recalls. “I thought it’d also make the store feel more multidimensional, but in reality, they didn’t add much to the space.”
Her mindset changed after becoming a mother in the early days of the pandemic. She realized she didn’t have the energy to tend to these other aspects of the store and decided to concentrate more on the book-selling side of the business. “In reality, that was already a ton of work,” Ying says. “You have to keep up with new books being published, and stocking second-hand books is even more time-consuming. If I wanted to add 30 or 40 secondhand books, I’ll need to spend three or four days combing through the content. It’s also quite physically demanding, especially because I try to attend pop-up markets as well.”
Distance houses a healthy selection of both new and secondhand books, with even a small area dedicated to indie prints and publications. In the summer of 2021, the cafe area was further shrunk down to accommodate more bookshelves. This business pivot proved to be a hit with the customers. Today, the store—against all odds—is thriving as much as ever.
Address:
876 Jiangsu Road, Bldg. 3, 2F
Changning District, Shanghai
Hours:
12:00 ~ 21:00
面对疫情的冲击，半层选择做加法，而位于江苏路一栋商务楼2楼的远方书屋则在做减法。远方书屋于2016年搬到了这里，店主周迎当时什么也没想就开起了书店，所以按她的说法，“一开始到处都是困难”。不过她对开书店很难这件事也有心理预期，所以去学了咖啡，也做简餐、活动，但效果也十分勉强。
“因为总觉得不赚钱，然后总想着去做别的事情贴它，看上去很丰富很多元化，但其实你的主体性很低。”直到成为了妈妈又遭遇疫情，周迎不再有精力去顾那么多事，于是下决心好好做好“书”这一件事。“事实上这就已经够忙的了，要了解新书出版的动向，二手书进货会更耗费时间，比如进三四十本旧书，我要花3~4天的时间去挑品相挑内容。体力还要跟上，我差不多每个月还也要出去做集市。”远方书屋出售新书，也有二手书，从店主的兴趣出发，以文学类和民族类的书籍为主，还有一小块绘本区域以及一些意外之喜的独立出版。在夏天的装修中，她缩减了原来的餐饮区域，增加了书架的面积。专注之后，书店的经营反而好转起来，也给了周迎“现在渐渐觉得可以了”的信心。
地址：
上海市长宁区
江苏路876号贵冠商务中心3号楼2楼
营业时间：
12:00 ~ 21:00
Lekai Books
乐开书店
Lekai Books is a bookstore that’s in constant flux—endlessly experimenting, making mistakes, and learning from them. The store’s first location was in a subbasement level of a shopping mall off Loushanguan Road, tucked away in a difficult-to-find corner. It was the first bookstore in Shanghai to try a subscription model, loaning out books for a modest fee. At its peak, Lekai had three stores in the city.
There was one point where Lekai was completely shut down as well. For a small period of time, the founder— Zhao Yanping, more affectionately known by the nickname of Snail—closed down all the stores and hauled books around the country in their car, essentially becoming a mobile bookshop. In 2019, Lekai finally reopened a new store in a creative park off of Wending Road.
Upon entering, the store’s calming ambiance seems to immediately drown out the city’s bustle. The new store still offers a book rental service, but it hasn’t really affected their book sales, which have only increased over the years. “With a decade of experience, I believe that we’ve really polished our curatorial approach,” says Yanping. “We sell art products and offer coffee too, but they’re not what we’re good at. Our bread and butter is still selling books.”
Lekai carries more varied genres than the other shops on the list, but no shortage of effort has been put towards picking the best books from the differing categories—a metric Yanping quantifies by whether or not the book has re-read value. Their curation is painstaking work, but the effort truly shows.
Comprehensive knowledge of literature is required for this type of curation, and it’s a skill that Lekai isn’t reluctant in showcasing. Starting in 2019, the store began throwing events called Bookshelf X, which is designed to help patrons discover worthwhile books that they may otherwise miss out on. It’s not common for the store to host an event around a singular title, which they’ve done for Japanese photographer Ryoji Akiyama’s Chūgoku no Kodomotachi and Mitchell Duneier’s Sidewalk. The store has also held numerous events supporting ECHO, a Taiwanese magazine with a focus on traditional Chinese culture.
In the summer of 2021, Bookshelf X ran a new show with a focus on local publications. The event spotlighted some of their favorite magazines from around the country. All of these events are meant to make literature and reading seem more approachable and fun, a goal that Yanping feels to be as important as ever.
Address:
218 Wending Road, Bldg. B, 2M
Xuhui District, Shanghai
Hours:
11:00 ~ 21:00
不断加加减减不断在试错中进步的是已经开店十周年的乐开书店。2011年，乐开开在娄山关路地下商城的一个角落里，是上海第一家主打租书业务的书店，最鼎盛的时候乐开同时在上海开了三家书店，也曾在实体店关闭之时开着车满中国地做移动书店摆书摊卖书，几乎尝试了各种可以想到的书店经营方式。如今，乐开搬进文定路的创意园区，电梯上去，整个书店由内而外的温馨气氛成了天然屏障，隔开了周围嘈杂的业态。
店里依然保留了租书的业务，而售书所取得的收入也在大幅提升。店主赵艳苹，也就是大家熟知的“蜗牛”说：“经过 10 年的积累后，我觉得我们选书的能力有了大幅提升。虽然店里也有卖文创和饮料，但数量不多只是配角，我们最擅长的还是卖书。”乐开的选书涉及面较广，而要在好几个领域内都要选出蜗牛所认为的“值得反复阅读的”的好书来，可见背后所耗费的心力与时间。
自 2019 年开始，乐开就会不定期地举办“书+X”的主题展，初心也很纯粹，就是希望通过展览把更多好书推荐出来，他们甚至会为一本书做展，比如曾为《你好小朋友》举办“秋山亮二《你好小朋友》1&2摄影展”，展出青艸堂为大家精选的两册摄影集中极具代表的作品，部分作品为首次展出，带领大家回到书中所拍摄的 20 世纪 80年代；也会为喜欢的“汉声出版社“做相关传统文化的主题展，包括展出书籍封面、幕后文献、绝版藏书、民艺藏品等，其中展示的编辑笔记让许多读者对这套书背后的匠心印象深刻，由此种草；2021 年夏天，“书架+X”的主题是“在地刊物”，展示了各个区域的优秀杂志。此外，礼物书、福袋书、书架上的读后感小贴士……这些试图让卖书更有趣、更有效的努力，就像是店里随处可见的“手写”痕迹，充满了“想要把这一本书传递到你手上”的心意。
地址：
上海市徐汇区
文定路218号画家街B座2M层
营业时间：
11:00 ~ 21:00
Melibrary
小茶书园
Melibrary is a store opened by Luo Qi, and it first opened its doors the same year as Lekai Books. During the pandemic, Luo was forced to rethink his approach to operating as a book retailer. Having been in the business since 2011, with past locations that include Haining Road, Wanti Guan, Pudong, Hongkou Museum, Fudan, and M50 Art District, Luo has always considered his shop as an experimental space rather than a traditional bookstore. Aside from just selling books, he frequently organizes events, exhibitions, live shows, reading clubs, round-table talks, poetry slams, and more. His stores, at their core, are places that can facilitate book lovers to meet one another. In 2019, Luo was propositioned by an investor to open a 240-square-meter store in Hangzhou, and he agreed. To focus his efforts, he closed his only two locations at the time. But in an unexpected turn of events, the pandemic hit, and the investor dropped out. For the first time in a decade, Luo found himself without a store.
“Without any locations to manage, I had time to reflect,” he says. “When I was running my stores, that was where all my attention was focused. Whether it was making money or not, my mental bandwidth was completely dedicated to those stores. But I was suddenly pulled out of that comfort zone. I consider it fortunate. I started thinking about how a bookstore could last in this digital age, how it can be made into something different.”
Luo, with a large remaining inventory of books, decided to move it all to a new store in Qinghu, a much cheaper area on the outskirts of Shanghai. The store was designed around the concept of a bookstore in the “wilderness.” Not long after, collaborating with a friend, he opened ShanShui Xu – Melibrary, a space where people can enjoy traditional Chinese tea and peruse great literature. This newest venture, the expansion of his philosophy around community and literature, now has locations in Wujiaochang and Xintiandi. The store operates around the philosophy of books being a bonding agent, one that can be used to connect people from different walks of life. To facilitate a stronger sense of community, these locations regularly host book clubs, salons, and discussion forums. While Luo has felt his efforts to be rewarding, he’s hardly complacent and believes that there’s still plenty more work to be done.
Address:
345 Guoxia Road, 3F
Yangpu District, Shanghai
Hours:
11:00 ~ 20:00
小茶书园的店主罗奇则在疫情期间对书店进行了深刻的思考。罗奇从 2010 年开始开店，先后在万体馆、浦东大拇指广场、虹口多伦美术馆、复旦、M50、锦江都城酒店、复兴坊开店……他认为书店是一个场域，渴望建立人—书—人的社区。除了卖书，他也很热衷于策划各种活动，在书店里举办过真人图书馆、寻找有故事的老房子·邬达克、阅读的马拉松、艺术展览、音乐会、庄子读书会，诗歌跨年活动等，为喜欢书的人提供更深一步的纽带。2019 年底，有人愿意出资，邀请罗奇到杭州开一家 240 平方的书店，为此，他将复旦与 M50 的两家门店关了，全心投入新店的筹备与策划中。不料 2020 年疫情来袭，投资人放弃了项目，开了近 10 年书店的罗奇一时成了没有书店的人。
“在没有书店的时候还是做了点反思。之前日常开店是沉浸在其中，不管这个店是盈利或者不盈利，每天是在一个频率里面，会有惯性，但突然之间打破了这样的一种单纯的工作生活状态，再反观开书店，在网络、技术改变带来的人的消费和生活方式发生不可逆的情况下，书店要如何使经营成立，如何破局，值得重新定义和思考。”
罗奇将大部分的书都搬到了房租较为便宜的青浦，布置成“大自然书房”亦可作接待作用。之后，与朋友合作，开设了“山水序·茶书房”这一新形态，在五角场的锦江都城酒店和新天地的复兴坊都有据点，将原本开书店的一大核心“以书会友”的“友”之社群深挖，“书连接的是人，连接的是同样在读书的一批人”，继而以读书会、沙龙、俱乐部、知识付费、原创文创等深度运营的形式继续连接“人—书—人”。后疫情时代，罗奇对于重新定义书店充满了想象。但这仍然不是罗奇心中满分的“书店”，关于书店的实验和探索一直在路上。
地址：
上海市杨浦区
国霞路345号锦江都城酒店上海五角场店3楼都城公社
上海市黄浦区
复兴中路553弄37号前门
营业时间：
11:00 ~ 20:00
Text&Image
梯书店
“Before considering how a bookstore can be profitable, I believe it’s more important to think about the bigger picture—for example, the merits of books as a medium and why reading is meaningful,” says Zhou Andi, the founder of Text&Image, a bookshop opened in the French Concession in 2020. “Is it possible that people in the future won’t need to think for themselves, and the most intelligent people of society will have the answers the masses are looking for? If thinking is no longer needed, then critical thought won’t be valuable. If that happens, then reading will become obsolete and books will be an item of luxury.”
As evidenced by Andi, not every indie bookstore owner has an optimistic outlook on the future of books, but their efforts in the present are undeniable. It’s an effort that’s best summed up in the Japanese novel Bookstore Die, which says that book retailers are the last stand against the death of physical books—these are people willing to stand up to the test even if there’s only a shred of hope.
To that effort, Text&Image isn’t only a bookstore. In 2018, it started off as a publisher and design studio. Their offices continue to operate in a room behind the retail space. Andi’s impetus in starting a publishing company and a bookstore are one and the same: he just wants to introduce good books to more people. He believes that less can be more, and his shop space operates under this ethos. Text&Image is mostly stocked with publications imported from overseas, and there’s a clear affinity towards niche titles with eye-catching designs. The genres available in the store run the gamut but lean towards art and sociology. Books aren’t just cluttered onto shelves—they’re stocked tidily, and with prices that match online shops, new books are constantly being stocked. “Our store is small, so I hope that every visitor can see the whole space when they come in, even if they don’t purchase anything,” he says. “It opens up the possibility of them discovering new publications that may broaden their worldview.”
The store’s curatorial chops and approachable environment has garnered many returning customers. “As a physical bookstore, there’s not a lot of margin,” Andi laughs. “Being profitable is near impossible, but we can at least break even. Knowing that it doesn’t turn profit makes it easy, and I know we can survive, but if I expect the store to generate income, then it becomes difficult.”
As of now, Text&Image is getting by and the positive feedback from customers has him feeling motivated, but Andi adds, “We still have time to improve upon the formula.”
Address:
42 Tianping Road
Xuhui District, Shanghai
Hours:
11:00 ~ 21:00
“在思考如何把一个书店做得更有利润之前，我觉得在更大的层面上也需要一些思考，比如关于图书作为一种媒介，关于阅读本身。” 2020 年底刚在天平路上开店的梯书店店主周安迪在思考这样的问题：当大众文化趋向于越来越娱乐化、碎片化后，“有没有可能越来越多的人不需要思考，只有最聪明的人去思考去发明，然后大家享用这个思考结果就行。”如果思考的土壤不存在，人类对于思考的价值观就会全然颠覆，那阅读就会变稀有，书就会变成越来越像奢侈品的一种存在。”
“梯”不仅是书店，从2018年起也进行着图书的出版与设计的工作，现在团队的办公室就安在书店深处的一个房间里。做出版和开书店的初心是一样的：想把自己认可的书介绍给更多人，提供“更好更少的选择”。梯书店的书有很大一部分是外版书，也有诸多选题有趣、装帧精致的小众书籍，类型上以社科、艺术类为主，排列上并不密集，定价接近电商，保持勤快的换新频率。“我们书店很小，我希望进来的人都能逛一圈，不买也没关系，但有可能就会遇到他之前不太关注但确实能带来交叉视角的书籍。”
梯书店的选书之道和平易近人的营业风格为他们积累了不少回头客，“对于书店来说，卖书的利润率很低，作为一个盈利模式来说几乎不存在，能做到的就是覆盖成本。其实做一个不赚钱的东西可能反而没有那么难，要生存下去相对容易，但你要让它变得赚钱是很难的。”在周安迪心里，现在的梯书店还在及格线徘徊，但收到的反馈与肯定让他觉得格外奢侈，“我们还有时间把它做得更好。”
地址：
上海市徐汇区
天平路42号
营业时间：
11:00 ~ 21:00
In the age of Taobao and Amazon, it’s hard for physical stores to compete with the low overhead of online-only retailers. But Yin of Distance Bookstore believes that in the case of purchasing books, the online experience is lacking. “Personally, when I buy books, only when I can see the book in front of me do I know whether or not it’s something I want to purchase,” he says. “I don’t know what I’m buying online. When I do try and order online, what I receive in real life is often different from what I originally envisioned.”
Yanping agrees with this sentiment. “A lot of customers who make a purchase do so after they come in and flip through our offerings,” he says. “Only then can they determine whether or not it’s something that they’d like to read. They understand the effort our store put into curation, and they enjoy being in a physical store, so they’ll choose to shop with us.”
Despite the perks of a physical location, all of these retailers naturally also make sales online. When the pandemic flared or when business slumped, WeChat and Weidian (a Chinese online shopping platform) have proved to be valuable tools. Convenient as they may be, these online channels are by no means ever the main focus. Even when a book is shown sold out on their online shop, Rhino Bookstore will often leave a few copies for customers who make the trek to their physical location. “We don’t want to disappoint customers who come and can’t find something they like,” Yin explains.
These owners, despite their varied goals, believe that the sense of community and the face-to-face interaction that a physical location offers simply can’t be replaced. This human warmth is worth their efforts.
Readers who cherish the tactility of a paperback are what keep these stores running, and a large percentage of the patrons are the younger generation. They range from passersby who work nearby to Taobao shoppers who are unable to find certain editions online. For these bookstores, no matter who they may be, customers aren’t simply customers—they’re the building blocks of the local community of readers.
Yin believes that the people who visit his store are what makes it such a special place. “Whenever I’m interviewed, they’ll ask if I can share an interesting story about some of my customers, and I’m never able to answer,” he says. “The fact of the matter is, everyone, is interesting in their own right.”
One person who recently finished a book came to Yin’s store and purchased a new copy, asking for it to be given away for free to the next person who comes along looking for the book. At Text&Image, one especially avid reader ordered several boxes of books. Their order was large enough that the owners became concerned, suggesting for them to finish a few books before coming back to purchase the rest. At Melibrary, a lot of attendees to their book club end up hosting future book clubs. Yi says the joys of a bookstore are cumulative, built up day after day.
Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop ends on a rather melancholic note:
“As the train drew out of the station she sat with her head bowed in shame, because the town she had lived in for nearly ten years had not wanted a bookshop.”
With the arrival of a new year, the bookstores we featured in this article have no plans of slowing their footsteps, but many others will be forced to shutter their doors for good. It’s a difficult environment, one that may force readers to ask themselves whether or not they need physical bookstores? Will we be ashamed of our answers?
No matter what the future may hold, perhaps now is as a good time as any to visit your local bookshop.
并非每个开书店的人都乐观，但他们一定都很努力，某种程度上，书店是一种“如果还有一丝机会来得及去面对问题，都要面对”的存在。
互联网时代，在电商上购书固然有价格优势，但它也确实让“买书”这项行为变得扁平。远方书店的周迎说：“我买书的话，只有当我看到了这本书的样子，我才会知道我想不想买它。在线上我会不知道买什么，就算有时候在线上下单，收到书时还是会和想象中有出入。”乐开书店的蜗牛也说，“很大一部分我们书店买书的客人，是喜欢看到实物翻阅一会儿才知道这本书是不是他想阅读的，然后才会购买。他们也认可你在背后付出的选书的精力和时间，喜欢书店的存在，所以会在实体书店买书。”
拜访的这些书店都有各自的线上渠道，在疫情反复之际，或是线下生意不怎么好的时候，微店或朋友圈的营业就作为营业额的重要补充和支持——但也仅仅是补充而已。犀牛书店会刻意将一些好货留在店内，“怕到店里来的客人挑不到东西会失望”；许多书店在谈及这个问题时，都会说到“线下书店中发生的人与人之间的关系无法被替代”。这种关系究竟是什么，能够被托付如此的认定和付出。
各种各样来书店买书的人让这些书店依然能靠着“书”为主营业务继续前行，他们有的是在附近工作或正好路过，有的是寻觅一些绝版书前来“捡漏”的淘书客，有的因这家书店的选书对味而常来，还有很大一部分群体是年轻人……但实际上，在书店店主眼里，来买书的人并非是某一种用户画像，而是真实的一个个人。
犀牛书店在微信公众号持续更新着“值日僧日记”，将来买书的人买了什么书一一记下；远方书屋的店主说：“几乎所有采访都会问有没有比较有意思的客人故事，但其实我答不出来，每一个都很有意思”；有人在乐开书店看完了一本书，然后买下，让店主送给下一个会对这本书感兴趣的人；有人在梯书店买了好几箱的书，买到书店的人劝说：“先别买那么多，看完再看来买”；小茶书园的很多书友会变成下一个分享者；半层的王壹说，书店的喜悦是日常中一点点积累而来。
一本本书，传递到一个个人手上——这种传递无法被标签化，因为每一次的传递都有每一次的意义。在整齐且大音量的时代声音中，书店里的流动总显得小声而自由。在书店的书架上浏览着一本本书的时候，人面对的不只是书，还有自己——松弛的、打开的、独一无二的自己。在书店，人与人之间的关系是怎样发生的？接纳、珍爱、善意、求知的喜悦、量力而为的日常……它呵护着“人”，关系便自然生长。
小说《书店》的结尾是：“火车开出站时，她坐在那里，羞愧地低着头，因为她生活了将近十年之久的小镇，并不需要一家书店。”
新的一年，受访的这些书店会继续向前走，也有不少书店止步或是暂停于2021。现实对于书店往往很苛刻，正如它对理想的世界一样。我们的生活需要书店吗？答案会使我们羞愧吗？
去逛书店吧。
