Bookstores tell a story of resilience amid holiday resurgence

High footfall, rising sales

Nearly 200,000 people visited bookstores during the Spring Festival holiday in Beijing, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication.

The more than 160 brick-and-mortar bookstores in the city reported a combined turnover of more than 20 million yuan ($2.93 million) during the holiday, according to the bureau.

In particular, Beijing Book Building, where Wang reads books with her child, and Wangfujing Bookstore, two large general bookshops in the city, each had a turnover of over 1 million yuan, while several other bookstores saw retail sales increase by over 50 percent year-on-year.

Elsewhere, the number of people who visited the bookstores run by the Shenzhen Publishing Group reached 2.4 million in January, an increase of 68 percent from December, according to a recent report by Guangming Daily.

Zhongshuge, which owns 42 bookstores in cities including Shanghai, Chengdu and Suzhou, also recorded an increase of visitors in January. More than 860,000 people visited its stores, an increase of 20 percent from the same period last year, according to the newspaper.

The holiday is over now, but the library on the top floor of Wangfujing Bookstore, in the city's Dongcheng district, is still busy. Although it's a weekday, all the seats are occupied.

With an identity card and a deposit of 100 yuan, people can apply for a library card and borrow books from the library, as well as most others across the city, according to a member of staff.

In the PageOne outlet in Qianmen, there is a board where visitors can pin messages and notes. One note, left by a child, reads, "This is a nice place. I bought many books. There is an awful lot here. I like it very much."