Open Closed Open
Text by Chen Shiyong and Lin Xia
December 24, 2015: Poem-Gathering reopens. Formerly known as Open Closed Open, the poetry-centric bookstore first opened in October 2009 and temporarily shuttered in July 2010. by Xie Hu
Brick-and-mortar bookstores found new hope in 2015. In Shanghai alone, 10 bookstores including Upper Bookstore, MUJI Books, and Mephisto opened, some as franchises of established brands and others as small, independent businesses.
Furthermore, e-commerce is becoming more involved in face-to-face bookselling. In November 2015, Dangdang.com, one of China’s online supply giants and the country’s biggest online book retailer, announced they would open some 1,000 physical bookstores in China within three years.
Why fight the current in the wake of physical bookstores closing one after another under the relentless siege of e-commerce? Why launch independent bookstores in China as the market becomes more dominated by both e-commerce and big franchise stores alongside the rise of e-books? Some popular book shops in Shanghai such as Poems-Gathering, Rhinoceros, and Mephisto hold some answers to such riddles.
Chasing Cultural Dreams
Of the several Shanghai bookstores that opened in 2015, two reopened. One is Poems-Gathering, which specialized in poetry from its first opening in October 2009 to its closure in July 2010. With a new name, it reopened on December 24, 2015, on Shaoxing Street in downtown Shanghai. Another revival is Rhinoceros, which opened in October 2007 and closed in September 2008. It reopened in October 2015 on Liyuan Road in the city proper.
Poems-Gathering can be hard to find because of its lack of an eye-catching sign. Housed in a former dwelling, the bookstore features a small wooden horizontal board inscribed with the Chinese characters, “诗·集,” literally “poems-gathering.” Owner Huang Sheng usually sits by the window reading and sipping tea. In its previous incarnation, the bookstore was known as “Open Closed Open,” a name adopted from the title of Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai’s final anthology. Under both names, the shop has provided access to a wealth of poetry by masters of every era and locale alongside a few books on drama, philosophy, and religion. Its limited space is filled with sofas, chairs, and tea tables, creating an aura as casual and comfortable as a study.
When it reopened on Christmas Eve, Huang invited many of his old customers and new friends to join him in celebrating poetry with singing, drinking, and the recitation of their favorite famous verses or even original work. The results were exactly as he had hoped: His bookstore became a gathering place for poetry enthusiasts, emanating literary culture.
Similar philosophy inspired the owners of Mephisto and Rhinoceros as well. Both hailed from cultural background before launching bookstores. Fei Ge, a Mesphisto partner, was developing a mobile app related to publication information and bookselling before he abandoned the project in favor of the comfort of operating a second-hand bookstore.
Business Patterns
All of these bookstores share some traits: They are small in size and focus on literature, history, and philosophy. However, they still differ in methods of operation.
Huang Sheng devotes most of his attention to his online shop while leveraging his bookstore as a branding tool aided by social networks such as WeChat and Douban as well as word of mouth. He is confident about his future plans: “I want to open a bigger bookstore when I can afford it. For now, I need to run this store optimally and utilize my friends’ help for branding.”
The new Rhinoceros operates completely differently than before. It used to be more of a café decorated with books. Now, shelves lining the walls are arranged by subject, including famous Chinese classics and books by German philosophers such as Kant and Hegel. In the center are two bookcases full of ancient cloth-bound books, books from the Republic of China (1912-1949) era, and old postcards, creating a vintage feel.
“In my opinion, traditional business patterns are better for readers,” explains Zhuang Jianguo, a partner of the bookstore. “A bookstore should help readers find a good book.”
Mephisto was named after Mephistopheles, the demon in Faust. The owners introduced a brand new bookselling operation by fusing short-term lodging. They leased a suite on the second floor of an old apartment on Huaihai Road Middle, the bustling commercial center of Shanghai. One of its two rooms houses books and the other tenants.
“Want to stay at Mephisto?” asks their online promotional campaign, and most tenants book online, which provides a steady stream of income. “We might be the only ones doing business this way," Fei Ge grins. "Most hotels decorate their rooms with a couple of books. Not only is our bookstore ‘second-hand,’ our furniture including book shelves, tables, chairs, sofas, and cabinets is all used. We got a long list of reservations for our room, which made it profitable in just the third month after opening.”
“I’ve always been against treating culture like a commodity despite the fact that it's unavoidable,” declares Huang Sheng. “I think that other private bookstore owners share my feelings. The best way to run them well is to get more classics on the shelves.”
Good News
By adhering to their unique operational principles, these bookstores haven’t felt much pressure from online and chain stores. “Dangdang’s decision to open brickand-mortar bookstores is the desire to create venues to channel potential book buyers to other commodities,” suggests Fei Ge. “Their operations have nothing to do with second-hand bookstores like ours.”
“Despite the fact that fewer people visit our bookstore due to the accessibility of information and online shopping, we still offer things that they can’t get online: a space to read, enjoy the atmosphere and exchange ideas,” adds Huang.
“It’s good to see big bookstores open, which could herald a reading renaissance,” says Zhuang Jianguo, one Rhinoceros owner. “Those new books will eventually end up at our bookstore after making their way through the market, giving used sellers better selection. This is one way that online and franchise bookstores benefit us.”
