[Explanation] A bookstore is a dream of a city. A ray of light is an exit to the world. This is Cui Zhengyi’s wish to establish Hefei Aichi Bookstore. In the past 24 years, he has been working hard to realize this wish. With.
On August 22, in Xiangjie, Luyang District, Hefei City, Cui Zhengyi sorted out various books in a slightly deserted bookstore.
[Concurrent] Cui Zhengyi, owner of Aichi Bookstore
Our Aichi Bookstore has gone through 24 years from 1997 to now, and we have moved three times.
We are mainly in the past 20 years of experience, mainly to do some humanities and social sciences boutique, local academic ancient books on this aspect.
Our readers or members are about 10,000 (persons), our current reading books are 30,000 or 40,000 volumes, and there are more than 20,000 varieties.
[Explanation] In 1997, when he was a young man, Cui Zhengyi discovered that Hefei did not have a high-grade private social science bookstore. He rented a shop in Sanxiaokou in the downtown area and started the Aichi Bookstore.
Because he was selling all the most popular academic books in the Beijing book market at that time, he quickly alarmed the vast number of scholars in Hefei.
Rare complete collections and "niche" ancient books, which are usually difficult to find, are now available at their doorsteps. Since then, Aichi Bookstore has become famous.
[Concurrent] Cui Zhengyi, owner of Aichi Bookstore
We were around 2000, because the logistics at that time was not too advanced, and we could buy a book every week, but after we came in, the daily flow of people was several times higher than the current minimum. This information was not too advanced. , Their readers also lack channels for buying books, and they can only see them in physical bookstores.
This was our situation at the time, but it is different now.
[Explanation] According to Cui Zhengyi, around 2010, China's book retail market has undergone earth-shaking changes.
The physical bookstore is facing multiple pressures such as the increase in rents and staff wages, as well as the impact of online bookstores. It has encountered serious difficulties in its operation. It has also been forced to relocate three times in eight years and is called a "stray bookstore."
[Concurrent] Cui Zhengyi, owner of Aichi Bookstore
Find good books for readers, find readers for good books.
This is one of my original intentions.
Nowadays, physical stores are not very easy to do. The reason is that young people’s reading habits or changes in price war with the Internet.
In addition, there are platform updates for some published media, reading you, listening to books, and some e-books, which still has a great impact on our physical bookstore.
[Explanation] Twenty-four autumns and winters have brought the youth who used to sell books to middle age, and the Aichi Bookstore has continued to radiate its own "little light" in the course of several rounds.
Now, Cui Zhengyi and his daughter Cui Shaoyun are running the bookstore together, and the two also play the biggest role of books by recycling old books for replacement. At the same time, they also hope that the bookstore will no longer be "wandering".
[Concurrent] Cui Shaoyun, the daughter of Cui Zhengyi
The bookstore should provide such a pleasant place to relax.
He doesn't necessarily need to buy a book in a bookstore, but he really sees a book he likes. Wouldn't it be better to find a book he likes?
In the case of physical bookstores, first of all, if it has this environment, the feeling that it will go shopping is the inner feeling that online bookstores do not have.
[Explanation] Although physical bookstores have been greatly affected by the Internet and e-books, there are not a few people who are still keen on physical bookstores. One of them is Wang Zongyu, a student from the 54th Middle School in Hefei City.
He believes that compared with the "cold" network, physical bookstores can not only communicate face-to-face with people, but also feel the "scent of books".
[Concurrent] Wang Zongyu, student of No. 54 Middle School in Hefei
The small bookstore here is not like the big bookstore, but it lacks a kind of human touch. The owner is more warm.
When you visit this physical bookstore, you can smell the scent of the book and feel immersed in the book, which makes people feel very comfortable.
Liu Honghe and Chu Weiwei report from Hefei, Anhui
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]