Can Bookstores Thrive by Adding Coffee Shops?

When independent bookstores close one after another, many ask: is there any future left for the physical bookstore? In Hangzhou, one bold experiment is trying to answer that—by turning a traditional bookstore into a hybrid space where books meet coffee.

Yes, it can work. By merging with a well-known coffee brand, the transformed Blue Lion Books now draws dedicated customers, serves a smaller but more curated book selection, and creates a relaxed café atmosphere that keeps people in the space for hours—proving that coffee might be the lifeline traditional bookstores need.

What Is the Blue Lion · Carving Time Hybrid?

The Blue Lion Fashion Bookstore and Carving Time Café is the first fully integrated bookstore-café in Hangzhou. It’s a collaboration between local literary bookseller Blue Lion and Carving Time, a well-established Chinese café chain known for its artsy, humanistic vibe. The result is a space where books and coffee share the spotlight.

The original white, minimalist Nordic-style bookshelves have been replaced with a more lived-in layout: a central coffee bar, cozy seating, and communal tables. Most books now live along the northeast wall, making room for the café experience to take center stage.

How the Space Was Redesigned for Comfort and Community

The redesign emphasizes comfort and a slower pace. Multiple blackboards—around ten in total, in various sizes—are scattered throughout the space. They display hand-written chalk notes for coffee and pastry prices, recommended reading, and event schedules like class times. Old school desks and chairs, salvaged from local middle schools, add a nostalgic touch. These are often paired with vintage school supplies: desk lamps, Hero brand ink bottles, and even inkstones.

The book selection is organized into clearly labeled sections such as “Grocery Store” (a quirky miscellany section), “Foreign Fiction,” “Domestic Fiction,” “Chinese Literature,” and “Travel Psychology.” There’s also a dedicated shelf for books published by Blue Lion itself under their “Blue Lion Finance & Economics” imprint, and a “Signed Editions” section for books autographed by authors.

Why Fewer Books Might Be Better for This Model

According to Carving Time’s marketing manager Ma Yuting, the current café-bookstore stocks around 1,000 titles, totaling 2,500 volumes—down significantly from the previous iteration of the fashion bookstore, which offered 2,500 titles and 5,000 volumes. This leaner selection is by design. “It’s more aligned with what the market wants now,” Ma said. The smaller, more curated collection fits the slower, café-centric model better than a traditional large-scale bookstore setup.

Local literature expert Xia Lie adds context: “Hangzhou is a culturally rich city. But people looking for bestsellers go to Xinhua Bookstore. Those seeking high-quality literature go to Xiao Feng or Fenglin Wan. Meanwhile, many stylish cafés lack books entirely—or if they have a few, there’s no staff to recommend anything. That drives potential customers away. Independent bookstores, though, can fill that gap for cafés.”

Customer Experience: What Visitors Are Saying

Ji Xiao, a senior at Zhejiang Forestry University, visited the redesigned store shortly after it reopened. She’d seen the announcement on Blue Lion’s Weibo and came with two classmates from her campus in Lin’an. “I attended Lu Qiuyu’s book signing here back in February 2023 for her book ‘No East No West.’ Even then, I liked the book selection, but the space felt stuffy—it wasn’t comfortable to sit and read for long. Now that it’s a café, we brought our own books and ended up staying the whole afternoon.”

Her experience reflects a key shift: the addition of coffee and casual seating has transformed the space from a transactional bookstore into a community hub where people linger.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Blue Lion · Carving Time bookstore?

The Blue Lion · Carving Time is a hybrid bookstore and café in Hangzhou, created through a partnership between local literary bookstore Blue Lion and the café chain Carving Time. It blends book retail with a relaxed coffeehouse environment, featuring curated bookshelves, communal seating, and a full coffee menu.

How many books does the new store have?

The current bookstore-café stocks approximately 1,000 titles, totaling 2,500 volumes. This is a reduction from the previous bookstore’s inventory of 2,500 titles and 5,000 volumes, reflecting a more curated approach suited to a café-centric model.

What kind of atmosphere does the hybrid space create?

The space features cozy seating, old school desks, vintage learning tools like ink bottles and inkstones, and multiple hand-written blackboards. The layout encourages lingering, socializing, and reading, with a focus on comfort over high-volume retail.

Why did the store reduce its book selection?

The smaller book collection—about 1,000 titles—is intentional. It aligns with the café’s slower-paced, community-oriented model and better matches customer demand in a hybrid bookstore setting, according to Carving Time’s marketing team.

What do visitors think of the new hybrid model?

Visitors like Ji Xiao report enjoying the relaxed, social atmosphere. Many come specifically to hang out with books, stay for hours, and appreciate the shift from a traditional bookstore feel to a café-like environment that supports longer visits.

Recommended FrontStreet Beans for Café Reading

For a hybrid bookstore-café like Blue Lion · Carving Time, FrontStreet Coffee’s Ethiopia Humbera offers bright floral and citrus notes with a juicy body—perfect for pairing with contemporary fiction. Their Yirgacheffe brings lemon zest and stone fruit brightness, ideal for sunny afternoons with essays or memoirs. For something deeper, their PWN Golden Mandheling delivers a syrupy body with hints of cinnamon and dark chocolate, great for slower reads or book club gatherings. All three showcase the clarity and balance that complement a literary café atmosphere. Freshly roasted within 5 days · Orders placed before 17:00 ship the same day · Next-day delivery across most of Guangdong Province.