Visitors take pictures and read books in Shenzhen on Nov. 13, 2021, at a Zhongshuge bookstore, a chain famous for interior design.
VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images
BEIJING — Social media plays such an important role for Chinese consumer businesses that for a crop of new bookstores, visual appeal tends to be a priority.
Elaborate interior designs — sometimes amplified by mirrors — have not only caught the attention of “Architectural Digest” but also young Chinese searching for new experiences.
“The Chinese consumer, especially the post-90s [generation], they want convenience, they want novelty,” said Derek Deng, Shanghai-based partner at Bain & Co., who leads the firm’s consumer products practice in Greater China.
“They desire the products [that] not only satisfy their functional needs, but can address their emotional needs,” he said, “whether it is something that you can show off to your peers, something that you always find as enjoyment, or something that you just feel like you need to make it easier for you to blend in.”
Shopping malls have noticed. Rather than signing deals with big department stores to have them as the main draw for customers, malls have turned to coffee and tea shops, finely designed bookstores, electric car showrooms and other trendy shops, said Jacky Zhu, head of research for west China at JLL.
“They can drive foot traffic. They can drive the foot traffic for a targeted customer,” he said. This is so much the case, he added, that malls will let bookstores pay a third or fourth of what an apparel or cosmetics store would in rent.
In addition to visually appealing interiors, many bookstores in China sell coffee, stationery and gifts. Nostalgia for the China of past decades is a popular theme.
One of Mia Huang’s favorite bookstores is a shop in a traditional, four-walled Beijing courtyard. The store displays many historical items such as bicycles and door signs, and has a public reading area, she said.
Huang, part of the post-90s generation, said she left her job at an internet technology company in 2019 to become a full-time travel blogger — sharing commentary, photos and videos about her experiences.
This building in Beijing, China, was built in 1907 as the first Anglican church in the city, but lost its religious functions long ago and was turned into a bookstore before this photo was taken on June 21, 2019.
Jason Fan | Barcroft Media | Getty Images
Another of Huang’s favorite bookstores is one converted from a church building in Beijing.
“Lots of people go there to ‘check in,'” she said in Mandarin, referring to a trend in which people visit places they’ve seen on social media, and then take their own pictures to prove they’ve been there.
Going to bookstores isn’t really for buying books, she said, noting that many of the shops have turned into tourist attractions or comfortable places to take a break in.
Some…
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