On August 31, local independent bookshop Pin-to Livros & Musica posted a short article on its Facebook page, announcing that with the expiry of its lease, the shop would have to move out soon. The piece shocked all the book-lovers in Macau, and has been forwarded and read over 200,000 times. On September 30, following a documentary screening, the store ended its 13-year business in its downtown shop.
Well-known for its special choice of books, unique music selection, and pioneering and interesting cultural events it has organized over the past 13 years, the local independent bookstore, Pin-to Livros & Musica has long been considered a cultural landmark by local booklovers and visitors alike. And the cultural and social significance it has represented, goes way beyond the bookstore itself.
It’s probably no surprise that running an independent bookstore is not the type of business that makes a lot of money, especially at a time when the overall publishing industry is facing challenges., so one needs to be very determined to have a physical store.
Anson Ng, the sole owner of the Pin-to bookstore, doesn’t like others to view his career through “tragic” glasses. He tells us frankly that the reason he chose to run the bookstore was firstly because “it’s fun and gives me a sense of achievement.”
Back in 2003, Anson was working for Eslite Music in Taiwan, when he decided to come back to Macau to work on a different project. While doing so he made three like-minded friends who were all local. The group all had backgrounds in the cultural industry, and they were unhappy with the fact that Macau didn’t have a proper bookstore that could “satisfy our book-shopping and readings needs.” After some discussion, the four decided to invest together and open a bookstore that would “introduce and have all the books that we loved.”
Due to the SARS outbreak at that time, real estate prices in Macau were not so crazy, and the Pin-to bookstore managed to find a space on the second floor of a building that was located downtown, with a monthly rent of around HK$10,000.
“None of us were businessmen at that time, so it was very random to open this store,” recalls Anson. “The investment wasn’t that much, so we were thinking that even if the store went broke, we could at least keep the books for ourselves. ”
However, to the surprise of the investors, the store began running quite well after its opening. There were more people in town who appreciated their taste in books than they had imagined. It seemed the bookstore had stumbled into an untapped market by accident. But the main thing that really kept readers coming back was Anson’s good taste in books.
Anson has been in charge of choosing books for the bookstore since its opening. Because of his earlier job in Taiwan’s Eslite, 70 percent of the books were directly imported from Taiwan, making Pin-to the store with the largest and richest collection of Taiwanese publications in Macau, mostly focused on arts and humanities. The books were arranged according to different categories, such as social humanities, literature, lifestyle, performing arts, visual arts, construction, children’s books, and a separate shelf especially introducing books that were published in Macau or written by Macau authors.
Anson believes there was something unique about the bookstore that made it hard to copy.
“Apart from selling and buying books, there are relationships, between the people, between the books, between the people and books, that are quietly communicated within the bookstore. Such communications present an interconnectedness, which extend to the entire store,” explains Anson. “We’ve been following our heart, not the market, since the beginning in terms of what we really want to do”.
Though it has had success with its branding and reputation, Pin-to still faces a crucial test from the market. Anson jokes that when he talks with other bookstore owners, instead of asking how to make money, they always ask each other: “How can we survive?”
The income of the store always been just break-even.
“We were lucky that our costs were low, basically because of the reasonable and stable rental with our last landlord. In Macau or Hong Kong, the rental is the most likely unstable factor that can influence the business of a bookstore. ”
Anson tells us frankly that his income is much less than that of his peers and friends of a similar age. And there is a generally attitude in Macau that to run a bookstore is a bit crazy.
“I am neither out of my mind, nor from a rich family. If I had thought it through and made my calculations, I wouldn’t have started this venture. Honestly speaking, nobody will even pity you if you start a bookstore business and lose money. So you have to be clear about what it is you want from doing this business. If you are sure about what you want, you won’t be influenced by others’ opinions.”
Anson was aware from the beginning that it was not only going to be difficult to run a bookstore, but that the income would be low too. The reason why he continues is because “running a bookstore is where my interest is, and is what I’m good at. I want to bring all the good (arts and cultural) resourses back to Macau to help it develop a bit. That’s the main reason why I returned from Taiwan.”
The bookstore and the Society
Pin-to always tried to encourage certain values, and this was reflected in the books it chose. Sometimes, to cope with the socially hot topics, the store would display books that were relevant to democratic movements in Macau and Hong Kong. It was sometimes criticized for “not being positive enough”.
On this criticism, Anson thinks that the role of a bookstore is to be a platform, not an authority that forces its readers to accept particular values.
In regards to social movements, Anson tried to keep the bookstore at some distance, but always thought about “how to make society better.” Therefore, to cope with some special periods, Pin-to tried to have a dialogue with society via the books it sold. “We hoped the bookstore could provide, on some levels, some different thoughts for citizens to digest.”
Anson admits that the initial reason for opening the store was to provide a platform for their selected books to be discovered by certain readers, so the reader could later be influenced by the books and make some personal improvements or changes in their lives.
Pin-to 2.0
With the closure of its old location, Anson has now decided to reopen Pin-to in January 2017 at No.47 Rua de Coelho Do Amaral, close to Kiang Wu Hospital. The new address will allow the bookstore to finally come “down to the earth”, and and people are interested to see how it will interact the its new neighborbood full of history and local culture. “I’m really looking forward to the new start,” says Anson.
Full of New Year’s resolutions he adds, “I hope I can focus on publishing and publish some books that I really want…I’m thinking of starting a public Wechat account for Pin-to because I’ve noticed in Mainland China that the sales of the books on WeChat are more than in physical bookstores. And I hope to improve my writing skills given I’m becoming more interested in expressing myself via words.”
Anson believes there are still many creative possibilities to make running the bookstore more fun.
“But all in all, ” he concludes, “my first motivation is to run the bookstore exactly the same way as those old-school bookstore owners – it is just because we love the books and love to be surrounded by books, enjoy reading quietly, and meanwhile can make friends with others who love books, just in this space, and just this simple. ”
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Pinto-Livros in the Eyes of Writers
Wu Mingyi, Taiwanese writer:
“In 2011 April during my stay in Hong Kong, Pin-to invited me to give a speech on my writing here in Macau. At that time, I didn’t have that many readers yet, so to give the talk in that warm bookstore made me feel like I was talking with friends. Pin-to has a special taste when it comes to choosing books, and has become a window to display the works of Macau’s young intellectuals. I enjoyed a lot a bookshelf next to the window with books about Macau’s plants and history. The books there also helped me to better understand democratic movements, as well as developments in politics and society, in both Macau and Hong Kong during the past few years. I believe Anson is a cultural operator with opinions, abilities and tastes. Last year I was invited to Japan to give some talks and many were in independent bookstores near commercial centres. I noticed one thing that helped those stores to survive in such high-rental areas was that they charged for many events held there. I think this might be the direction that independent bookstores can try for the next ten years. The world is changing rapidly, but I believe Anson is just like me, and will keep on running independent bookstores. ”
Un Sio San, Macau poet:
"I used to go to Pin-to to buy poetry books from Taiwan. After I graduated, Pin-to was interested in publishing my first poetry book. Even though that didn’t happen, I had both of my two book launches in that bookstore. I appreciate a lot that they allowed me to offer my books there, and showed a level of respect to local books that people usually don’t give. Pin-to has definitely played an important role in the past decades in promoting local Macau literature. I’m really looking forward to Pin-to 2.0 opening soon, with the rich culture of its new neighborhood, and having more space to do more interesting seminars for its readers. "
