"With no end to the epidemic in sight, bookshops are on the edge of collapse.” This article posted by OWSPACE, one of China’s most notable independant bookshops, began trending on social media in late February, at the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. “2020 was supposed to be a year for us to celebrate the 15th anniversary of OWSPACE. We could not have envisioned that the celebration would start this way – by asking for your help.”
A crowdfunding scheme was introduced in the article, priced from 50 to 8,000 RMB, offering store credits of equal or higher value and creative cultural products. The article pleaded for the help of readers and described the difficulties facing the bookstore: foot traffic had plunged to just one-tenth of usual levels; revenue was estimated to have dropped by 80 percent compared with the previous year; and the average number books sold daily was a staggeringly low 15 – of which half were bought by OWSPACE’s own employees.
OWSPACE is hardly alone in its predicament in the midst of the global pandemic. Bookstore owners everywhere are grappling with the same problem: how to minimize the economic losses and stay alive. As “non-essential” businesses, bookshops have had to close their doors, cancel book launches and signings, and call off literary festivals. Even The Script Road – Macao Literary Festival, which should have taken place in March for the ninth consecutive year, had to be postponed.
With their lifeblood drained, brick-and-mortar bookshops have started to feel the unbearable weight of financial burdens: payments to suppliers, high rents, labour costs, water and electricity bills… In New York, the landmark Strand Book Store laid off 188 employees, the majority of the bookstore’s staff, in the wake of a state-wide lockdown. A survey conducted by Shumeng – an alliance of small-and medium-sized bookstores in China – indicated that of over 1,000 bookstores surveyed, 80 per cent only had enough money to sustain themselves for less than three months.
Worse still, the unprecedented temporary closure of bookstores became permanent for some. In March, Popular Holdings Limited announced the closure of all its 16 bookstores “after serving Hong Kong for more than 40 years as a result of the continuing downturn in the book retail market.” In Haiyan city, Zhejiang province, the own er of Utopia Bookstore posted on Wechat that he had decided to close the shop and return to working in the construction materials industry “to earn a living”.
The situation has never been this dire, and bookstores have been trying everything they can to survive. Some have been offering curbside book pickups, where staff members take books to customers in their cars. Several Chinese bookstores have been working with takeaway-ordering platforms like Meituan and Eleme to provide 30-minute at-home deliveries. In Kuala Lumpur, Moontree House, an independent bookstore dedicated to works on feminism and gender equality has been giving away masks as free gifts with each book purchase – such a gift is clearly in much higher demand at present. Later they even started selling cloth face masks with a pocket between the two layers of fabric for an optional filter.
Not being able to meet customers in person has also compelled bookstores to turn their attention online. Online book group discussions and readathon challenges are being organized by many bookstores to maintain the sense of a reader's community. Chinese author Liang Hong hosted the launch of her new novel Four Images ‐‐‐‐online, where she shared her stories of creation and communicated with an invisible audience via live comments. The Portuguese Bookshop in Macau, which has suffered a significant decrease in foot traffic as a result of strict travel restrictions, is encourag ing people to use its newly launched App “LP Macau EN/ LP Macau PT” (available in Portuguese and English) to browse promotions and new arrivals, and to order books.
OWSPACE, along with five other bookstore owners, collaborated with China’s top online marketing influencer, Viya, and held a live-streaming session entitled Save Independent Bookstores on the e-commerce site Taobao to promote blind boxes of books. The battle to save in-dependent bookstores received a warm response with the campaign attracting as many as 140,000 viewers, and selling over 8,000 boxes each priced at 99 RMB in just one hour.
In San Francisco, a GoFundMe campaign for City Lights, one of the world’s most famous independent booksellers, received more than US$400,000 from nearly 9,000 contributors within days. Industry associations and policy makers also introduced various alleviation measures and assistance for bookstores.
It is a shared hope that beloved bookstores can stay afloat during the pandemic. In Italy, the government is providing aid to support publishers and booksellers and allowing bookshops to reopen, marking a first step in a return to normality for the world of books. Italy's culture minister Dario Franceschini has welcomed the move, saying that it recognizes the “essential” nature of books.
Books are essential, in the sense that they are our spiritual nourishment, connecting us with others while in solitude. Bookstores too are essential, in the sense that few places feel more comforting, inspiring and uplifting. When we finally get through these dark times, we will need bookstores to be there, so that we can visit them to sharpen our minds, store our memories, and enjoy the intellectual companionship they provide.