China-Origin ★ Heaven for Night Owls: "24-Hour Bookstores" Open in a Rush

Major Chinese cities are seeing a surge in 24-hour bookstore operations. Many existing bookstores have adopted round-the-clock hours to provide a relaxing space for the growing number of "night owls" in urban areas. Some convert a section of an existing store to 24-hour operation, while others involve two neighboring bookstores taking turns operating overnight. To boost sales, they're adopting business models that combine food and beverage services. This includes partnering with coffee shops to allow in-store dining, or having coffee shops in the same building switch to overnight operations to provide customers with food and drinks.

Expansion Decided Just 10 Days After Opening

In July this year, Guangzhou's first 24-hour bookstore, "1200bookshop," opened. While the city saw a growing number of night owls, establishments open all night were primarily nightclubs, karaoke bars, and restaurants. Believing "there must be demand for a quiet place to spend the night," owner Liu Erqi (30) raised funds from 30 like-minded supporters to launch the 24-hour bookstore.

The store occupies approximately 150 square meters on the second floor of a commercial building facing the downtown area. Around 10,000 books, primarily focused on literature and art, line the wall shelves. The calm interior, featuring extensive woodwork, integrates with a café. Customers can order food and drinks and read books while seated on sofas at tables.

Late at night, students and creative-looking young people begin arriving one after another. Young female customers are also quite common. Customers rarely talk to each other, and the staff are discreet. It's a quiet, calm space, rare in China's bustling downtown areas. A high school boy who learned about the store online and visited from the suburbs said, "I can stay for a long time and read books. It's really enjoyable."

Liu, who is also an architect, designed the shop himself, inspired by a famous bookstore in Taiwan where he studied abroad until last year. When Liu traveled on foot across Taiwan, he often struggled to find places to spend the night. Consequently, the shop features dedicated backpack storage and sofas where customers can lie down. Paris's "Shakespeare and Company," known for lending lodging to cash-strapped youth, also served as a model. The cozy atmosphere, including its elaborate interior and furnishings, draws many customers.

Though it seats about 60 people, customers have overflowed day and night since opening, with some even sitting in the aisles. Within less than ten days of opening, Liu decided to expand, securing an additional 100 square meters downstairs. Interior construction is now proceeding at a rapid pace.

  The real selling point is "a place to be"

Sales are split almost evenly between food/drink and books. Weekdays bring in about 6,000 yuan (approx. $900), while weekends range from 8,000 to 12,000 yuan. Liu explains, "In China, with the prevalence of pirated books, relying solely on books doesn't generate enough revenue. Integrating the café allows us to sustain the business."

According to the Beijing Business Daily, many 24-hour bookstores face severe financial difficulties, with nighttime sales failing to cover utility costs. One Xi'an bookstore reported overnight sales of 10,000 yuan, far short of the 30,000 yuan needed to break even. So far, no store has achieved sufficient revenue from books and magazines alone; beverages and light meals remain the main profit drivers.

Furthermore, the Qingdao Daily reports that despite this, bookstores maintain 24-hour operations to compete with online retailers and find a path to survival. This is part of an "O2O" (Online-to-Offline) business model experiment, aiming to link websites with physical stores. The strategy also includes encouraging customers to purchase books they've browsed in-store via the bookstore's online shop.

However, the real draw of 24-hour bookstores might be serving as a "place to be" for people active late at night.
According to the Qingdao Daily, Qingdao's all-night establishments are mostly karaoke bars, pubs, and cheap eateries. Places with a cultural atmosphere are almost nonexistent, leading to complaints from some residents and tourists about having nowhere to go at night. When a Qingdao bookstore stayed open until midnight for just one day during April's "World Book and Copyright Day," it unexpectedly generated 20,000 yuan in sales. Another bookstore offering free Wi-Fi has also become popular, especially among young people, as a place to relax late into the night.

This surge in 24-hour bookstores is nothing short of a boom. Whether they can survive after this initial fervor subsides remains to be seen. The key will likely be how well they can provide an appealing "place to be" for urbanites with nocturnal lifestyles.