社区书店的坚守者

栗子

有人说：“若想让朋友破产，让他开书店吧。”一句玩笑却道破了当下实体书店生存之困境。确实，在新媒体的助推下，网络书店方兴未艾，人们的阅读习惯也悄然转变，实体书店似乎前途迷茫，充满未知。

“很多时候，我觉得书店快要撑不下去了，但孙总咬咬牙，又过了一年。”说这话的是新华书店鑫轩店的业务经理张斌，而他口中的孙总，就是孙迪珍——杭州鑫轩贸易有限公司的总裁，也是这家书店的创始人和坚守者。

白色休闲裤，绿色短袖上衣，一头披肩的卷发，从办公桌前站起来的这位雅致女人，就是今天我们采访的主人公——孙迪珍。

回忆5年前开书店的初衷，孙迪珍用了“突发奇想”4个字。孙总说，打拼商场多年，就是想停下来做些相对风平浪静的事情，选择书店则是因为自己从小爱看书、读书。“我想开个书店，既可以满足自己喜欢看书的爱好，又找到了理想的事情来做。”

但想开书店，没有经验怎么办？找新华书店！就这样，她找到了杭州市新华书店，希望开展合作。对当时的杭州市新华书店来说，这也是一个大胆的想法。新华书店与民营书店似乎一直是竞争关系，除了配货，还能不能深度合作？虽然刚开始略有迟疑，但信奉“创新就是生命”的杭州市新华书店总经理许悦，很快就合作模式等问题与孙迪珍达成共识：即利用新华书店的品牌号召力，采取加盟连锁形式，由书店输出品牌与管理方式并提供商品配供，而鑫轩公司提供物业、人力，负责日常经营管理。此举令缺少从业经验的鑫轩公司减少了“从头摸索”的时间和成本，很快走上规范运营的正轨；对杭州市新华书店来说，当时，整个滨江区没有一家新华书店，而合作填补了主渠道在这个区域的空白，实现了低成本扩张。

时光一晃5年，2007年所萌生的这一念头，如今已经变成了1500平方米的鑫轩店，三层楼中，有两层为营业场所，另一层为办公场所，在售的图书和音像制品多达3万种。在鑫轩店开业之前，附近基本没有什么商业氛围，但随着书店的开业，周围逐渐聚集起了超市、水果店、咖啡店、药店等生活配套商店，这也从另一个方面体现了书店对周围人气的带动作用。作为滨江第一家也是唯一一家书店，鑫轩店的创办无疑为这片区域带来了浓郁的文化氛围。

而为了让鑫轩店尽快上手并良好运营，杭州市店还专门把中层干部张斌派驻到店里，他一干就是5年。张斌来鑫轩店前，在杭州庆春购书中心工作，谈起书店，他可谓滔滔不绝。“其实就盈利情况来讲，我们每年都有亏损。虽然每年的营业额都有所增长，但是实体书店普遍不景气已是不争的事实，所以鑫轩店也面临着严峻的变革压力。”

阅读环境发生改变，网络书店强势冲击，和每一个实体书店一样，滨江鑫轩店也面临着诸多难题。“书里夹了很多小纸条，很多人来看书，但不愿意买书。”孙迪珍说，为了减轻压力，增加利润，书店想了很多办法。比如到学校（大学图书馆）去开店，在店里开设茶吧，到居民区发卡片，到周边的机关企业推销等。动作最大的则是裁员。由于人工费用太高，去年书店裁掉11名店员，普通员工从21名变成了现在的6名。

从今年3月开始，书店尝试通过绘本租赁的平台，借助相关专业人员的力量，开始探索幼儿托管培训领域的业务。“由于书店零售环境的变化，整个业态都面临着很大的危机。但作为‘社区书店这一独特的存在模式，要生存我认为还是有机会的。读者的‘求近、‘方便等诉求，正是我们努力的方向。”张斌说，针对这个突破口，鑫轩店采取送货上门的服务模式，逐渐在社区附近积累了一定的影响力。比如，白马湖建国饭店通过旁边社区要到了书店的电话，订购了一批书籍；而“复兴燃料”也因为内部小型图书室更新，专门找到鑫轩店。

同样是购书，网购比实体书店便宜，他们为什么要选择鑫轩店？对此，孙总说：“因为我们还是有自己独特的优势：第一，客户一般需求非常急，而新华书店书的种类齐全，调度迅速，可以满足对方的要求；另一方面，我们有专业的图书管理人才，可以根据客户的需求帮助他们选择各种类型的书籍，而这是网购所不具备的。”孙总还介绍说，附近有社区筹建图书室，新华书店鑫轩店就通过自己的渠道帮助其邀请到了杭州图书馆的老师前来培训，在提供书籍配送的同时，也帮助其引入了一套标准的管理模式。

视野一旦打开，他们发现虽然实体书店的前景堪忧，但还是有一些实体独立书店成功地向人们证明了“奇迹”的存在。如北京的蒲蒲兰绘本馆、广州的例外方所书店、武汉的德芭与彩虹书店等，它们具体的经营模式各不相同、各有特点，或走专精路线，或走多元路线，或走混合路线，但共同的是都努力摆脱实体书店传统的单向经营的模式：书店不再仅仅是卖书、买书的地方，更是一个精心设计和经营的人与书、人与人交流、分享的文化空间，在那里，只有在实体店才能切身体验到的真实感强烈地吸引着新老顾客。

而对于“社区书店”来说，无论具体的经营模式如何，深植不迁的文化品格才是书店的立根之本。但这文化品格并不以“超尘脱俗”、“遗世独立”而高，相反，“在人间”才最是紧要。社区书店应该是社区中文化传递与分享的重要驿站，书店虽然是一种商业模式，但它存在的意义绝不仅仅只是卖书盈利，而重要的是与人发生关系，努力成为社区需要的一分子。

鑫轩店无疑把握到了这一脉动，这几年来积极组织名家进社区附近的校园，郑渊洁、沈石溪等著名儿童文学作家都为活动注入了大量的人气；同时，通过举办各种社区互动活动，提升了书店在社区中的品牌影响力，构建了书店和社区居民之间的亲密联系。

有人说，有什么样的书店，就会有什么样的城市。而事实上，有什么样的经营者，也就会有什么样的书店。言谈间，孙总始终是以浅浅的笑意、舒缓的语气面对书店的亏损。她深知，开书店重要的并不仅仅是盈利，而是一种爱书人的文化情结。她说，只要还有希望，她就会努力减少亏损，争取将其长期经营下去。一个虔诚的书店经营者，必然也是一个有追求、有创造力、有激情和不囿于成见的人，无论给没给他一个好环境、好机会，他都有能力将自己的实体书店之梦进行到底。孙迪珍是这样，张斌也是这样。

Community Bookstore Persists

By Li Zi

Sun Dizhen decided to set up a bookstore business five years ago. After working hard at her business for years， she had some money. She wanted to take a break and branch out into a quiet business. Without any idea about bookstore business， she contacted Hangzhou Xinhua Bookstore and sought cooperation. Hangzhou Xinhua Bookstore， part of the national Xinhua Bookstore chain founded in the 1940s， had never run a franchised bookstore before although it had acted as a supplier to many private bookstores in urban and rural areas of Hangzhou.

Xu Yue， chief executive of Hangzhou Xinhua Bookstore， believes in innovation. After a few rounds of negotiation， Xu and Sun worked out a business mode： Xinxuan Bookstore was to be a franchised bookstore bearing the name of Xinhua Bookstore. Xinhua Bookstore would allow Xinxuan to use the brand name， and would supply Xinxuan with management and books. On the other hand， Xinxuan would provide funds for daily operation， logistics， and personnel. The partnership has been beneficial to the both parties. Xu Dizhen directly entered bookstore business； Xinhua Bookstore had a branch in Binjiang District， a new urban center where there had been no Xinhua Bookstore before. This partnership meant that Xinhua Bookstore expanded without shouldering all the costs.

Five years have elapsed since the inception of the partnership in 2007. The three-storied bookstore is not flourishing but it has survived. Zhang Bin， the business manager of the bookstore in Binjiang for the past five years， comments that at every year-end， he thought the bookstore would fold. When it first opened its door to the public five years ago， the bookstore was the only business in the neighborhood. The 1，500-m2 private bookstore now acts as a business center for the community， surrounded by many other businesses. The physical bookstore now faces many challenges. Although it has witness a continuous increase in business turnover over the past five consecutive years， it has to downsize the labor force. Last year， fifteen employees were laid off and now the bookstore has only six employees.

In order to survive， Xinxuan is trying some new business tricks. Since March 2012， it has been running a rental platform where parents can check out pictorial books for their young children. The bookstore hopes to function as a commercial supporter for young parents. Zhang Bin observes that the bookstore has chances to survive as consumers wish to buy in the neighborhood and for convenience. The bookstore now also delivers orders directly. Just a few days ago， a hotel called and made an order of many books. The other day， a community library bought a large number of books to update the library.

Why do clients come to Xinxuan for help？ Usually clients come to seek fast， one-stop solutions. Xinhua Bookstore is a powerful supplier with a full range of books. On the other hand， it has experts that can advise clients how to set up a library. Now it is no longer simply a bookstore business. It is a cultural space where people and books interact and people communicate and share. Though bookstore is a business， it exists to promote itself as a community member and promote human relationships.

Xinxuan Bookstore knows this trend. Over the last few years， it has invited well-known authors of children stories such as Zheng Yuanjie and Shen Shixi to hold lectures at the bookstore. It now runs a series of bookstore-neighborhood exchanges.

Sun Dizhen hopes the bookstore will eventually turn around and make profit. She wants to run the bookstore for as long as possible.