Beijng All Sages Bookstore 万圣书园

[gato]

This is a bookstore near Tsinghua and Beida. http://www.allsagesbooks.com/

A provocative dialogue:

http://www.honco.net/os/index2_0308.html

A Tale of Two Book Markets

An E-Mail Dialogue between Liu Suli and Kato Keiji

In recent years, several of our staff have had the good fortune to visit Beijing's All Sages Bookstore. It was immediately clear to them that All Sages is something quite special. It stood to reason, therefore, that the store's founder, Liu Suli, would have a unique perspective on the state of reading and publishing in China. He kindly agreed to engage in an e-mail dialogue with the eminent Japanese publisher, and frequent contributor to The Book & The Computer, Kato Keiji. In the following exchange, these two seasoned book professionals share insights and observations about the challenges facing book culture in two neighboring, yet vastly different, countries. This dialogue will appear in our upcoming book, Building a New Book Road.

Another interview with its manager Liu Suli.

　北京万圣书园总经理 刘苏里

http://finance.sina.com.cn/x/20040623/1543829988.shtml

　　记者：刘总，您在这个会所这种空间里面，这更靠近生活，在书的选择上跟本店有什么区别？

　　刘苏里：了解万圣的人。一眼能看出来，它们之间的差别，不再那么专业化，万圣是专业化书店，它长期以来在学术和思想、社科和人文这块打造所谓品牌价值，我们的胜利和失败都和这一点有关系。到了西山庭院以后，大家可以看出从图书的门类有一些重要的区别了，这一块我们依然还有相当部分的社科人文学术和思想的著作，但是大量是对艺术，特别是这里的建筑艺术，设计，绘画，美术，尤其是城市生活，后来我们定义的城市文化。有大量这样的读物，大量现代化过程肯定是城市扩张化的过程，城市人口越来越提高自己的生活品位和生活价值，它会形成一种很有特色的城市文化，每一个城市文化也是不一样的，居住在这个城市里的人，我想对于自己所居住的城市，以及对其它城市这种从风俗，城市历史，城市建设等等，会有相当的兴趣，而且生活这方面品质的提高，我想除了心灵的安慰，宗教什么这方面的需求以外，很重要就是艺术化的生活，音乐、美术，绘画，包括对传统古典的欣赏，包括对自己居住环境的喜爱，我们这里园林，北京当地的从很古老的传说开始，到北京的城市历史，包括北京城市建设和人口流动等等，这方面书很多，这是在类别上的区别，品质是没有差别的，类别上有区分，品质上要追求12年以来一贯的标准，这是第一个方面。

　　第二个方面这不是传统意义上的书店，我们引来很多带画的图书，其实也有这样一层意思，大家光顾这个店，闲聊也好，自己到这儿解闷也好，你不买也可以，高兴买走更好，它今后的经营，包括对人流的考虑，已经脱离传统意义上的书店，还有一个跟我们总店和原来万圣的做法不一样的地方，我们是01年提出一个概念，两个社区概念，一个社区概念就是方圆2.5公里内影响的人群，还有网络的发达虚拟社区概念，喜欢万圣主经品种图书的一个虚拟社区。但是一个店你影响一个物理社区比较容易，可是你一个物理社区的店如何影响一个虚拟空间的人群，来打造一个虚拟空间的社区，这个通道你猛一想是不通的，现在有技术了，西山庭院这个我就可以看到它经营的未来，你的人根本就不买书，没有关系，你会被这个气氛渲染，利用我现在这样一个物理空间，容纳的这样一个东西，能够在虚拟空间这一块赢得我的生意，你天秀的人可以来，西山庭院人也可以来，天秀人不来怎么办，我把我店安四个轮子搬到你们家去，这种递送的方式和现在正在如火如荼的网络方式不一样，它那个是大工业思路，解决80%，70%的问题，是不是服务很好，由于我只承诺2.5公里范围内，以外范围我不承诺，这就是为什么13华里再建一个店的原因，从一个书店意义上讲，我完全可以我这2.5公里范围我服务够了，而这里周边有15000户，还有四所大学。

[roddy]

One of my favourite Beijing bookshops. Actually, it is my favourite. And the cafe next door is nice too. I wrote up some notes about it ages ago.

Just read through the email exchange, interesting reading. Perhaps we can put these two in charge of their respective countries. Bookseller-kings, that's what we need.

Roddy

[Outofin]

This brings me many memories.

I used to visit the book store when it was on the 3rd ring road. It was very close to my home. I wasn't impressed by its selection. Perhaps they didn't do too well in their early years. Or maybe it was simply because I was too young to read any serious stuff at that time.

风入松 is an equally prestigious bookstore. It was located around the south gate of Peking U. Probably it's still there. I remember this bookstore for those who read in it. There was a time I saw a student, whoes short-sightedness was so bad that he put his head right onto the book page, with zero distance. I thought he must be half-blind.

Another bookstore in my memory is 席殊书屋. I never went there. I read about it on some architecutre articles introducing its odd design: all shelves are on wheels.