"A while ago, many viewers bought books and took photos, and the bookstore operated well for several days. Now the business is almost as light as before, and the facade rent of several thousand yuan per month makes me worry. " On the 7th of this month, Wang Guolin, 26, said in the "Herb Garden" with only 30 square meters, while burying his head in sorting out new books everywhere.
The physical bookstore industry is sluggish, but Wang Guolin's bookstore dream has not changed: "If the bookstore can become a platform for readers, readers and authors, readers and books to communicate, even if it doesn't make money, it is worthwhile."
"I will sell at a loss. I hope he will come again next time. "
The "Herb Garden" is located around colleges and universities, and the lunch break is the peak time for book purchase. According to the reporter's statistics, only five readers came to buy books from 12 to 14 that day.
A young man chose three books. As usual, Wang Guolin gave him a 75% discount, totaling 5 1 yuan. The young man insisted on erasing the change of 1 yuan. Wang Guolin was embarrassed: "In this case, I basically have no money to earn." The young man put down 50 yuan and left without looking back.
Wang Guolin told reporters: "My price can't be lower. For example, One Hundred Years of Solitude, 29.8 yuan after online discount, I will sell 29 yuan here. Seeing a reader pick up and put down a book several times, I know that he is sensitive to price and sometimes sells it to him at a loss. I hope he will come again next time. "
I didn't expect this to be a profitable business since I opened the bookstore. He held out a finger and said that the daily turnover was 1 000 yuan, and the profit was less than 10%.
"Once the landlord urged me to rent, I was penniless and had to advertise for a 50% discount." Within two days, the sales reached 1 0,000 yuan. "I got the money and paid the rent for a quarter. The bookstore can last for a few days. "
Be a pure bookstore and gather a group of book lovers.
There is a note in the bookstore: "In order to meet people and books, the Herbal Garden is only related to good books."
Wang Guolin is a picky boss. There is no chicken soup for the soul, no exams and no success stories in the Herbal Garden. A fat boy gave Wang Guolin advice: "Internet cafes make money by selling drinks. You have to do more." Wang Guolin replied: "I just want to be a pure bookstore and gather a group of real book lovers."
There are many serious academic books on the shelf. Although Wang Guolin is a graduate of a famous school, he sometimes doesn't understand them. If someone happens to buy a book that he can't understand, he will be very happy-he will ask someone else for the contents of the book when he checks out. Once he had a good chat with a reader and wanted to give him the book on the spot.
Wang Guolin has its own QQ book club group, and also opened the Weibo for the bookstore. He is surrounded by a group of book lovers, mostly graduate students and white-collar workers. When they don't buy books, they will also visit the "Herb Garden", get together to brag and recommend some books to each other.
Wang Guolin works 12 hours a day, goes out to buy food, and has to close the store temporarily, so the book club will come to watch the store for him occasionally.
"Here, the relationship between books and people, the relationship between people, can't be felt online."
I hope that small bookstores will be clustered into Wuhan cultural attractions.
There are nearly 8,000 books in the Herb Garden, of which Wang Guolin has read about 1/4. As long as he has read a book, he will remember the author, price, publishing house and other basic information. Wang Guolin said: "Many foreign writers have long names. My way is to open this book and read it, so that the author's name will be remembered. "
He said that he loved reading and selling books, so he remembered the information. "Everyone will do their work to the extreme, and so will they."
"Super Brain" has been on the air for three months, and some special readers came to see him: a female graduate student from Wuhan University of Technology came to buy a book and asked Wang Guolin to sign it. She said, "I just signed a contract with a company in Guangzhou, and you will be one of my best memories in Wuhan"; A beautiful girl from Wuhan University took away 2 1 book, which she had taught in Yunnan. These books were donated by Wang Guolin to poor children in Yunnan.
Not long ago, Wang Guolin also received donations of more than 20,000 yuan from all walks of life. He used the money to buy 2000 children's books, and prepared to give them to the children of Zhoujiahe Primary School in Luotian County.
"Bookstores around colleges and universities are greatly affected by winter and summer vacations. I must first change to a place that has a cultural atmosphere and is convenient for more people to buy books, and open a bigger shop; Also, can the government set up a bookstore street so that small bookstores like ours can get together and become a cultural attraction in Wuhan? " Talking about dreams, the young man smiled.