"Private brick-and-mortar bookstores are exploring feasible business innovations in order to survive harsh competition from their online counterparts," China Daily reported, noting that some booksellers said "they needed to change the function of bookstores, from places that sell books to places that are cultural experiences."
"We will create the bookstore as a cultural shopping mall, available around the clock," said Dong Chenxu of a new "all-night bookstore" strategy for the Fuzhou Road branch of Shanghai Popular Bookmall. "We don't expect sales volume during the night to match daytime levels. We just want to build a warm midnight reading environment for those who love reading." A new position, book selector, has been created "to help readers design their own individual reading programs," China Daily wrote.
Scholars and authors will be invited to the store in the evening to give cultural lectures to readers, according to Dong. And they will organize meetings of their book club's members to exchange impressions after reading certain popular books.
Dong said they came up with the idea for the all-night bookstore because they wanted to satisfy readers who needed books at night but found that every bookstore on the "cultural street" was closed after 9 pm.
The hours I used to spend in bookstores that were open really late were priceless. When I lived near Lombard St. in the marina in SF, many years ago, there were wonderful bookstores. Sometimes after a date, I would walk to them. I regarded them as places I could go to to restore my sanity. it was a type of bookstore meditation.
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