The book market is picking up, and the passenger flow is increasing-physical bookstores usher in a "spring breeze"

　　In the Spring Festival of the Year of the Rabbit that just passed, the "popularity" of the physical bookstore industry has returned.

　　According to incomplete statistics, during the Spring Festival in 2023, nearly 200,000 citizens in Beijing will "go to bookstores", and the book sales of more than 160 physical bookstores will exceed 20 million yuan, achieving a "good start" in 2023.

Among them, the sales of two large-scale comprehensive bookstores, Beijing Book Building and Wangfujing Bookstore, exceeded 1 million yuan, and the retail sales of many physical bookstores, such as China Bookstore, Xinhua Bookstore, Foreign Language Bookstore, Forbidden City Bookstore, and Youth Light Children’s Bookstore, etc. A year-on-year increase of more than 50%.

　　"The most difficult time has passed. This year we are confident in enhancing our ability to supply high-quality reading content and contributing to the creation of a city of scholarly fragrance with a strong humanistic atmosphere." said Xu Jin, director of the Marketing Management Center of Beijing Book Building.

　　Significant increase in store traffic

　　At the Wangfujing Bookstore located at the south entrance of Wangfujing Street in Beijing, there is an endless stream of people who come to buy books, and the children's reading area is full of parent-child readers.

Data show that the bookstore will receive more than 100,000 passengers in January 2023, a significant increase from December of the previous year.

A reader who bought books in the store from Fangshan District told the reporter: "If you want to carefully select books, physical bookstores are still a better channel than e-commerce."

　　The Xidan Book Building, also located in Beijing, had nearly 200,000 readers in January, and books on children, literature, and culture attracted a large number of customers.

　　In the south, the traffic flow of physical bookstores has also rebounded significantly.

　　Tang Hanlong, secretary of the party committee and chairman of Shenzhen Publishing Group Co., Ltd., told reporters: "The six major bookstores under the group's jurisdiction will have a cumulative passenger flow of more than 2.4 million in January 2023, an increase of 68% compared with December last year and the Spring Festival last year. % and 65%.”

　　Zhongshuge, a chain brand with 42 physical bookstores in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Chengdu, Suzhou, Wuxi, Xi'an, Guiyang, Chongqing, Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Yinchuan, Taiyuan, Changchun, Yantai, Shijiazhuang, etc., 2023 In January 2019, the number of visitors to stores across the country exceeded 860,000, a year-on-year increase of over 20%.

　　Shang Sijia, store manager of the Lafayette store in Zhongshuge in Xidan, Beijing, recalled that in the past three years, when the epidemic was at its worst, the number of visitors to the store every day was in the single digits.

"In January this year, the passenger flow recovered to about 570 people per day. During the Spring Festival, there were even foreign tourists who brought suitcases to buy books. Although the passenger flow is still far behind that before the epidemic, it is enough to give us the confidence to continue."

　　The "most beautiful bookstore" opened not only in the city, but also in the countryside has also ushered in a peak passenger flow.

　　Located in an improved granary in Beilong Village, Shaxi Ancient Town, Dali, Yunnan, the Pioneer Shaxi Baizu Bookstore has ushered in a highlight moment after its opening in 2020-"A business space of about 600 square meters, with a passenger flow of 30,000 in January, more than They are tourists from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Sichuan-Chongqing regions, and the number of tourists has more than five times that of last year's Spring Festival." Hu Jiao, the store manager, was delighted.

　　Pioneer’s other rural bookstore, Minmin Bookstore in Chenjiapu Village, Songyang County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, welcomed about 30,000 people returning home during the Spring Festival.

　　People in the industry believe that the above data show that the national book retail market, which has experienced several cold winters, is recovering vigorously.

　　Explosive growth in turnover

　　Accompanied by the significant increase in customer flow to the store, the turnover of many bookstores has shown explosive growth.

　　"Shenzhen Book City Central City, Luohu City, Nanshan City, Bao'an City, Longgang City, and Longhua City will have a total sales of more than 16 million yuan in January 2023, an increase of 36% compared with last year's Spring Festival. Among them, Shenzhen Book City Central City has the best operating conditions. Well, book sales exceeded 7.2 million yuan, an increase of 53% compared with last year's Spring Festival." Tang Hanlong said.

　　From the category point of view, the best-selling category of books in Shenzhen Book City in the Spring Festival is culture and education, with sales of nearly 4.5 million yuan, accounting for 26%.

Followed by political books, the sales code exceeded 4 million yuan.

　　Xu Jin introduced that the sales of Xidan Book Building in January 2023 have increased significantly compared with the same period last year. From the sales situation, it can be clearly felt that the retail sales of physical bookstores are picking up: "In addition to the stable sales performance of current affairs books, the best dynamic sales categories It is traditional culture and social science books, such as "Enlightenment", "Chinese Stories in Ten Cultural Relics", "Classic Talks", "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", "Father, Father and Son", etc."

　　The pioneer Shaxi Baizu Bookstore, which mainly deals in literature, poetry and Yunnan cultural books, has a turnover of about 850,000 yuan in January 2023, an increase of 300% over the same period last year.

The turnover of Minmin Bookstore in Pioneer Chenjiapu Village also increased significantly, with a year-on-year increase of 278%.

　　The significant increase in Mayang is due to the boost in consumer confidence.

With the economic and social development improving, the prospect of the physical bookstore industry is becoming more and more clear.

　　The recovery of the book market boosts business confidence

　　People in the industry once worried that the continued epidemic would profoundly change the consumption pattern of the book industry. On the one hand, the prices of books in physical bookstores are not competitive.

　　During the Spring Festival, the restored popularity of physical bookstores around the world has regained the confidence of practitioners.

　　"The number of reading activities we send out in the reader group is basically 'secondary space'. Before, due to the epidemic, readers often had concerns about participating in the activities, but now their enthusiasm for reading has returned." Shang Sijia said.

　　A bookstore is not only a place of business, but also an important space for spreading and inheriting culture.

　　In Beijing, Wangfujing Bookstore has held several series of activities with the theme of "Punching in the Intangible Cultural Heritage on the Coordinate Central Axis".

Inheritors of intangible cultural heritage taught traditional skills such as kite making and monkey making on the spot, making the "Children's Reading School" in the bookstore very lively.

The Year of the Rabbit dough figurine making activity in Zhongguancun Book Building led young readers to "sculpt" their own rabbit pier.

Other bookstores held themed activities such as "Chinese Folk Paper-cutting Art" and "Entering Beijing Cashmere Birds to Continue the Beauty of Millennium Skills" to bring Chinese excellent traditional culture into the lives of citizens.

　　In the past year, well-known bookstores such as Wuwai Bookstore Guanggu Store and Pioneer Poetry Bookstore closed down, as well as Chenghezhen Bookstore, "1927 Lu Xun and Neishan Memorial Bookstore", Xinshan Bookstore Guiyang Yueran Time Store and Chengdu Luhu Store. Wait for the bookstore to be born.

　　On the opening poster, Cheng Yuzhen, the owner of the bookstore, wrote the phrase "Embracing and traveling with the book industry".

This is also the common expectation of the physical bookstore industry for the future vision.

　　(Our reporter Han Han)

　　Guangming Daily