Untitled Document

In March, district councillors proposed to Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam Chung an idea of opening a 24-hour super bookstore in Hong Kong.

Although government officials declined to give specific descriptions of the bookstore, scholars expect the bookstore to be a centralized one.

According to Prof. Joseph Bosco and Prof. Gorden Mathews of the Department of Anthropology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the bookstore would have a variety of books, including both English and Chinese books, not just focusing on one language.

Furthermore, both academic and leisure books would be available for the general public to peruse and purchase.
In addition, a small cafe, a coffee corner, and comfortable couches in the bookstore would attract patrons to spend an afternoon there enjoying a good book.

Criticizing the existing services of local bookstores and the high prices of books, Prof. Mathews said, “It is inconvenient to carry books around, the store keepers are unfriendly, and the books are rather expensive.

“To be successful, this new 24-hour bookstore must possess qualities
t hat would set it apart from other bookstores in Hong Kong.”

Eslite Bookstore, a 24-hour super bookstore in Taiwan, serves as a
good example.

According to Prof. Bosco, the first thing about Eslite that attracted him
is that it mixes Chinese and English books together.

He said, “I like that. I don’t know of any bookstores that mix books
from different languages together. Educated readers would like to
know both versions are available.”

Prof. So Lai Man of Department of Marketing at The Chinese University of Hong Kong feels that the proposed super bookstore is a nice idea of a bookstore having everything so people don’t have to go to different places to get the books they want.

But Prof. So suggested that the new bookstore has to develop a comfortable reading environment.
“It should be a combination of a library and a bookstore.

“Customers must be allowed to read and relax in the store. There should be a coffee corner for adults and a stationery corner for younger people.

“Most importantly, there cannot be any pressure put on customers to purchase products,” said Prof. So.
However, chain bookstores like PageOne and The Commercial Press are potential competitors of the proposed super bookstore.

Besides selling books, PageOne sells magazines to attract readers back again in a few days or weeks because magazines are published periodically, according to Tsai Hao Jun, a marketing representative of PageOne.
Said Miss Tsai: “We also sell things other than books, like cameras and fashionable accessories, to convey a timely image for our bookstores.”

“We like to pay attention to the appearance of our stores, trying to impress people that a bookstore can be a comfortable and enjoyable place for them to learn or be entertained.”

The Commercial Press is a modern publishing organization with the longest history in China.

According to the local retail director of The Commercial Press, Charles W.K. Kwan, the bookstore belongs to three associations, namely the Hong Kong Book and Magazine Trade Association, the Educational Booksellers’ Association, and Sino United Publishing.

“Joining these associations, we can exchange experiences and communicate with others in the same trade.
“Moreover, we can improve the quality of the books we publish,” said Mr. Kwan. His company has already provided choices of 100,000 kinds of books.

Bookcity in Shenzhen would also be a competitor because it is so close to Hong Kong and the books are cheap.
Sim Kit Wah, a Year 1 student at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said, “Whenever I buy books, I usually go to Bookcity in Shenzhen because books there are much cheaper than those in Hong Kong bookstores.”

Moreover, as there are websites like Amazon.com and Paddyfield.com, which offer fair prices and good customer services, more consumers prefer shopping via the Internet than going to bookstores.
Prof. Bosco often shops at Paddyfield.com.

“The site sells books at the same price as in the States. All you have to do is to wait for two weeks for delivery. It’s a good deal,” said he.

Though decent in size and quality of books, PageOne and The Commercial Press specialize in English and Chinese books, respectively, instead of equally emphasizing both.

They also concentrate on leisure books, restricting selections of academic books.

Although bookstores such as Swindon’s on Locke Road and
Twilight Books on Johnston Road provide purely academic books, they are small in size.

While Swindon’s offers general types of academic books, it primarily
sells English books.

And for Twilight Books, though it emphasizes both English and
Chinese books, it focuses more on social theory books.

Whether or not a customer is buying a book every time
from a bookstore is not the most important.

Rather, how many people it can attract and retain is more vital.
By targeting the younger generation, according to Prof. So, the
super bookstore would help improve reading in Hong Kong.

“I can foresee reading will be more popular in the future,” said
Prof. So.
Prof. Mathews said, “The novelty of having such a big bookstore might just work to its advantage.

“After a period of time, people will get used to this kind of culture.”

In this sense, the purpose of the proposed super bookstore goes beyond
mere retail and profit-making.