Bookstores x Services

Chapter 6: Multiplying with Bookstores (11)

In a bookstore, you can actually handle all kinds of intangible things, not just events, classes, or book clubs. Since bookstores have all kinds of books, you can place all sorts of services adjacent to them within the bookstore space.

For example, it would be fine to have a beauty salon next to the beauty book section, or a travel agency near the travel book section. It would also be fine to have an insurance agent or a fortune-telling parlor next to the life planning book section. Especially if the shop owner already possesses some kind of expertise from a previous job, the unit price and profit margin will be significantly different from those of books, so actively combining such services makes it easier to sustain a bookstore.

Also, as with miscellaneous goods, services related to the act of reading itself can be considered. For example, book selection. While traditional new bookstores have provided services such as not only delivering ordered books but also selecting and recommending books that seem necessary to local libraries or university professors, these have been provided as free services. However, in recent years, jobs have emerged where fees are charged for the book selection itself, and where one manages or selects books for small book sales areas or libraries.

In addition, I feel that there is still plenty of room to develop all kinds of services related to books and reading as a bookstore, such as book clubs that deliver books every month, apps for reading, or warehouses for book management.

※Reprinted from 'A Reader for Future Bookstores' (NHK Publishing), p. 224