Lose yourself in a bookstore

The Guangzhou-based bookstore Fang Suo Commune attracts people with not only its 130,000 books but also its unique shopping experience and various regular activities. [Photo provided to China Daily]

With the rise of e-books and online retailers, many booksellers are struggling to stay afloat. But as Xu Jingxi reports in Guangzhou, many brick-and-mortar stores are fighting back, providing customers with added extras.

At a glance The central government gave 90 million yuan ($14.4 million) in total to 56 physical bookstores in 12 cities last year and issued a policy that exempts the added-value tax for book wholesales and retailers from 2013-17. Governments of Shanghai, Zhejiang, Tianjin, Jiangsu and Guangdong have also subsidized local bookstores with 56.4 million yuan combined by April 15. The financial support and preferential policy were a shot in the arm. The number of the country's publication distribution sites was 173,900 in 2013, with a year-on-year growth of 2.1 percent, according to Ministry of Commerce. Data also shows that brick-and-mortar bookstores still take the leading role in the bookselling retail market, occupying about 85.5 percent of the market share.

Reading in the cafe at Fang Suo Commune is the best antidote to the stress and fatigue of a long day at work for Lu Xiaofei.

The PR specialist at a foreign consulate in Guangzhou enjoys her one-hour "mental spa" at the city's new hot spot for bookworms. She orders a cup of her favorite herbal tea and loses herself in Notes from a Small Island, a humorous book by US travel writer Bill Bryson. Wi-Fi is unavailable in the bookstore, allowing her to switch off from the outside world.

"For me, a bookstore is not only for learning and education. It is also a leisure place, like a restaurant, gym or fun fair," says the 31-year-old.

"I don't think physical bookstores will die out. The reading and shopping experience in an actual bookshop still matters."

Fang Suo boasts 130,000 books, but it also has many other attractions that keep Lu coming back. She can buy potted plants, imported handicrafts and even shop for clothes.

The bookstore also invites writers, musicians, artists and scholars from around the globe to give lectures at least once a week.

Fang Suo Commune opened in November 2011, right after one of the country's biggest private bookstore chains, O2SUN Bookstores, collapsed. But its business model has proved a success, and it attracts 2 million visits and sells about 400,000 books a year.

Bookstores are increasingly combining various businesses - whether it is a large store like Fang Suo, which has a 2,000-square-meter space in Guangzhou and plans to open branches in Chongqing and Chengdu this year, or a small mom-and-pop store like the Jaffe and Neale Bookshop & Cafe in the market town Chipping Norton in the United Kingdom.

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