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The change of the coffee bar

Published: 2026-08-22 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/08/22, In Chengdu, chain bookstores, such as Southwest Book City under Xinhua Distribution Group, have increased sales areas for cultural goods and digital products, and set up coffee bars; small and medium-sized private bookstores, such as Zhiai Bookstore, are filled with a variety of creative products such as novel styles, exquisite drawings and unique designs, such as stationery, clothes and hats, and readers can save value with membership cards.

In Chengdu, chain bookstores, such as Southwest Book City under Xinhua Distribution Group, have increased sales areas for cultural goods and digital products, and set up coffee bars; small and medium-sized private bookstores, such as Zhiai Bookstore, are filled with a variety of creative products such as novel styles, exquisite drawings and unique designs, such as stationery, clothes and hats, and readers can save value with membership cards.

Membership, coffee bars, creative bazaars, cultural lectures, movie salons. The consumption of these culturally related products and services is increasingly introduced into the operation of physical bookstores, which has become the biggest change in the business model of physical bookstores in recent years.

With the advent of the Internet era, the transformation of public reading methods and the price and distribution advantages of online bookstores have a great impact on the operation of physical bookstores. During this period, many private bookstores had to close down because of rising costs and meagre profits.

In recent years, the change in business model is that under the pressure of survival, physical bookstores have changed from "walking on one leg"-- single-selling books to "walking on multiple legs"-- selling books, as well as cultural products and related services. Compared with the online bookstore, the traditional physical bookstore has a natural advantage in providing cultural services because it is in direct contact with customers, and it is easy to make readers linger. Therefore, expanding the scope of services, meeting the differentiated consumer needs of readers and carrying out "experiential marketing" are important ways for physical bookstores to break through. In China's first-tier cities, some private bookstores with strong cultural atmosphere and strong service ability have become the main source of operating profits of bookstores because of the sustained and stable passenger flow, the operating profit of coffee bar and water bar is even higher than that of selling books.

All kinds of changes are the excavation of advantages and potential of physical bookstores based on themselves. Further, can the physical bookstore make use of external forces to realize the strategic transformation of the business model and reverse the current business difficulties?

One answer from Barnes & Noble in the United States is the transition from a print book retailer to an e-book retailer, achieving high growth by selling e-books and e-readers. This is the choice made by Barnes & Noble Bookstore on its own initiative in response to the changes in the reading style of the American public and with the help of the rise of the e-book industry.

It has become an urgent task for the development of physical bookstores to re-recognize consumer demand, innovate business models, tap potential inward and borrow power from the outside.

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