Focus
City's private-sector bookstores in a bind
By Du Guodong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-14 07:55
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 Workers at the Disanji Bookstore, the once biggest private book seller in Beijing, pack up books before it closes its operation. Disanji went bankruptcy in January due to insolvency and bad management. [Wang Jing / China Daily] |
Financial struggles and preferences for State shops speak volumes for small retailers
Li Shiqiang is an easily contented man.
His inner calm belies his struggles throughout the years as the owner of the first private bookstore in Beijing.
For several years, the business has operated in the red. On some days, Li sells only three or four books and many customers just come to browse.
"We should have closed the bookstore because the sales barely cover the utility bills," Li told METRO.
Opened in 1988 at a time when the State-owned Xinhua Bookstore served as the only books supplier, Li's Sanwei Bookstore has been stocking its titles on open shelves and providing a casual spot for browsing and even reading.
That's in stark contrast to the Xinhua stores, at the time known for surly customer service and high counters that made it difficult to peruse the selection.
Keeping patrons engaged is a hallmark of Sanwei, which offers weekend lectures on academic topics ranging from law and philosophy to politics, wooing many avid readers.
"Only on weekends, we gather dozens of customers, but on other occasions, visitors are few and far between," Li said.
Li added that what sustains him and the bookstore is his belief that the shop provides a public service, rather than a concern for profits.
Besides, Sanwei doesn't need to rent a place, because he owns the two-story building that houses the shop.
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Pan Yuning, director of public relations for One Way Street Library, said since the relocation last September, the bookstore operated at a loss for six of the past seven months.
The bookstore also boasts weekend lectures and also has a caf on the second floor.
Pan said private bookstores cannot profit from book sales alone.
"When there is a lecture, the customers would like to sit down and buy a drink, which unfortunately has turned out to be the main source of income for the bookstore," Pan told METRO.
She said Solana officials gave her store a preferential rent to diversify the center's retail mix and lend more culture to the area.
Still, she needs to make a profit.
"Our situation is emblematic of the problems faced by the many private bookstores in Beijing, most of which are experiencing a hard time," Pan said.
According to Beijing OpenBook, a company that provides information services for the books market, in 2009, sales at the big and medium-size bookstores, including the State-owned Xinhua stores, rose steadily, while private bookstore sales declined.
Earlier this year, Disanji, the largest private bookstore in Beijing, went bankrupt. It had lost nearly 80 million yuan in three years.
The bookstore opened in 2006 with almost 20,000 sq m of floor space and more than 300,000 books.
According to Liu Suli, owner of All Sages Bookstore, 1,500 to 1,600 private bookstores have opened in recent years in Beijing, but three-quarters of them failed or morphed into shops selling a variety of products.
Located between storied Tsinghua and Peking universities, All Sages offers a vast range of titles and high-quality books. Its stylish cafe on the second floor makes it one of the most popular academic bookstores in the capital.
Liu said he would like to make All Sages a leading academic bookstore and provide teachers and students with a place to pick up their favorite books, as well as a venue for them to communicate with each other.
"But for my personal interest and love, I would have long ago closed it because it is not likely to make a profit," Liu said. "The private bookstores have been treated with too many injustices compared with State-owned counterparts."
At present, State-owned bookstores such as Xinhua are offered a full year to pay for their inventory while publishers and book wholesalers require private stores to clear payments within three months of delivery.
Xinhua is also entitled to deal in textbooks, the most lucrative side of publishing, but private bookstores are barred from that trade.
Xu Zhiming, secretary-general of the private book sector of the Books and Periodicals Distribution Association of China, said those claims of unequal treatment do not take into account the business capacity of the enterprises.
"To attain equal treatment, private bookstores should run their own businesses big and strong to be a full player of the game that can stand the market risk," Xu told METRO.
The government and the trade association have recently tabled a series of policies geared to help support the sagging private bookstores, including a ban on big book discounts for newly published books that would have taken effect last year.
Xiao Dongfa, director of the Modern Publishing Research Institute of Peking University, said the government should give more preferential treatment to struggling private bookstores and not treat them as other business enterprises.
"First of all, the government should support private bookstore in term of tax collection, and as the capital is the place that has the most private bookstores, it will set a good example for the whole country," Xiao told METRO.
"It would be disgusting if every street is filled with restaurants instead of bookstores," he added.
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The One Way Street, a private bookstore, is currently operating in the red. [Provided to China Daily] |
Private bookstores in Beijing
Sanwei Bookstore
Beijing's first private bookstore stocks arty and literary titles. Academic seminars are held in the store every week.
Location:60 Fuxingmennei Dajie, Xicheng district
Daily 9.30 am-10.30 pm
6601 3204
O2SUN Bookstore
The flagship store of this chain attracts students in Wudaokou with its wide selection of books on learning Chinese, English-language books, magazines and a cafe on the second floor.
Location:Bldg 1, Huaqing Jiayuan, Chengfu Lu (across from Wudaokou subway station), Haidian district
Daily 9 am-midnight
8286 3032/33
One Way Street Library
This small bookstore attracts a lot of visitors by organizing interesting events regularly and by its peaceful atmosphere. It has a limited selection of English-language books that can be browsed only in the store.
Location:No. 16, Bldg 11, Solana, 6 Chaoyang Gongyuan Lu, Chaoyang district
Daily 10 am-10 pm
5905 6973
The Bookworm
This bookshop is also a lending library and has a wide range of English-language books on offer, and holds frequent lectures by local and international authors. It also serves food and drinks.
Location:Courtyard 4, Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang district
Daily 9 am-2 am
6586 9507
Timezone 8
This shop sells fashion and art books from local and foreign publishers. It offers Chinese teas, desserts and some light cuisine. On Saturdays, it plays host to regular book talks.
Location:Dashanzi art district, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District
11.30 am to 7.30 pm
8456 0336
