Bookstores innovate amid epidemic

Brick-and-mortar bookstores in Shanghai are developing new approaches, such as hosting open-air book fairs and offering "takeout" services, to get through the novel coronavirus outbreak.

An open-air book market opened in downtown Shanghai on March 21. Customers wearing masks strolled in the spring breeze.

Different kinds of books were piled up on the vendors' tables with hand sanitizer and alcohol prep pads beside them.

Most brick-and-mortar bookstores in China have reopened to the public since early March, and the visitor flows in Shanghai's bookstores have recovered to around half of that before the outbreak.

However, it will still take time for business to return to normal.

From March 21, 58 bookstores teamed up to host a giant open-air book exhibition with special discounts to attract customers.

To survive the crisis, brick-and-mortar bookstores that once relied heavily on social gatherings are resorting to shifting their markets and services from offline to online using new approaches, including livestreaming and online sales.

The 70-year-old Shanghai Foreign Language Bookstore has started sales on online food-delivery platform Meituan Dianping and launched "takeout" services to attract more customers and mitigate the outbreak's effects.

Gu Bin, general manager of the bookstore, says sales reached 56,600 yuan ($8,000) on the first day of the "takeout" service.

According to Meituan Dianping, three brick-and-mortar bookstores in Shanghai and a total of 72 bookstores in Beijing have started selling on the platform.