People explore a bookstore in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Photo: IC

Beijing's Wangfujing Bookstore, located in one of the most ­bustling areas of the capital, has welcomed a steady stream of customers since the beginning of the Spring Festival in January. Reading areas for readers at different ages have been filled with people, some of whom are willing to just sit on the ground to read since seats are always full.

The bookstore's data shows that it received more than 100,000 customers in January, a sharp increase compared with December 2022. Other bookstores in the city, and even around the country, have also seen huge amounts of readers return since the beginning of the year.

During the Spring Festival, more than 160 bookstores in Beijing sold over 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) worth of books. Bookstore chain brand Zhongshuge's branch in Shanghai's Xuhui district also enjoyed a 50 percent surge in both customer flow and book sales in the first two months of the year, compared to the same period in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The worst time is over. We are confident that we can improve the supply of quality reading content in 2023," Xu Jin, director of the marketing management center at the Beijing Books Building, told media. Meanwhile, industry insiders point out that a spring of physical bookstores in China is coming soon.

Recovery period

Many physical bookstore managers told the Global Times that book sales and customer volume in these past two months have been much better than the previous two years.

Zhuang Ning, the manager of DC Books, a bookstore in Beijing's Xicheng district with a huge following online, told the Global Times on Thursday that since China downgraded management of COVID-19, she has been very pleased to see more guests arrive from other provinces and regions. 

During weekends, the bookstore sees an average of 200 customers and about 100 sales. Books about culture, history and philosophy have been the store's best sellers. 

Dong Hang, manager of a ­popular Xinhua bookstore in Beijing's ­Haidian district which is called Space Dream, told the Global Times on Thursday that the bookstore closed down for a long time during the last pandemic flare-up, but now business is picking up. About 30 customers come a day, while the best sellers in the store are books about science and technology as well as history and politics.

Some southern cities have also seen an increase in people heading to bookstores to read and purchase books. 

In Shanghai, many bookstores reached by the Global Times shared their excitement about their ­changing business prospects, since they are now flooded with customers, ­especially during weekends and holidays.

People read books at Zhongshuge's branch in Xuhui district, Shanghai. Photo: Courtesy of Zhongshuge Xuhui branch

Chinese bookstore chain Zhongshuge's branch in Shanghai's Xuhui district has been getting at least 6,000 visitors a day recently. Purchases average around 1,000 a day, bringing daily sales to more than 60,000 yuan. 

To better serve this flood of customers, a third of the bookstore's staff stayed on duty during the Spring Festival holidays, the bookstore's general manager Zhu Bing told the Global Times.

"This is a best-ever performance for our bookstore since it opened in 2018," Zhu noted.

The total customer volume of six Shenzhen Publishing Group bookstores exceeded 2.4 million in January, representing an increase of 68 percent over December 2022, the Guangming Daily reported.

In order to handle this increase in volume, the bookstore has updated its coffee bar to improve the consumer experience of readers. 

It has also optimized purchasing channels, and improved sales by selling books at a discount of no more than 40 percent, which turned out to be a big success.

The bookstore also developed a new business model by opening a tutoring camp for teens during schools' winter vacation, which is an urgently needed service in the nearby community.

Kids read books in a bookstore in Beijing. Photo: VCG

Bright future

Dong pointed out that the book industry has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, but with the gradual recovery of the economy and tourism, she believes that a new spring for physical bookstores will be coming soon.

The Zhongshuge bookstore's recent best sellers include Liu Cixin's Hugo Award-winning sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem and the ancient Chinese military treatise The Art of War, which has become ­popular again because of the recent hit ­Chinese TV series The Knockout. 

"All my bookstore's seven editions of The Art of War have sold out," Zhu said.

The optimization of China's ­COVID-19 policy means 2023 is set to be a very promising year for physical bookstores, Zhu said, adding that in recent weeks his bookstore has had a full schedule of offline events, such as book signings.

"I'm confident that this year, we can make up for all the losses caused by Shanghai's two-month lockdown last year," Zhu noted.