Bookshops are constrained by physical shelf space, and offer a finite selection of books at a time. But an online seller can have an unlimited inventory, Shubhranshu Singh writes. The need of the hour is for physical book stores and independent retailers is to raise the experience quotient, he adds.
Morioka Shoten is a bookstore with a single book available at a time, for six days.
Morioka Shoten is a bookstore with a single room with an event to gather every night.
Morioka Shoten, a single room with a single book
As we’ve know, Amazon and the rise of eComm devastated physical bookshops.
Bookshops are constrained by physical shelf space, and offer a finite selection of books at a time. But an online seller can have an unlimited inventory.
Books were a great choice for Jeff Bezos when starting off Amazon because all the necessary information about them could be easily digitised for the online experience.
And, with the advent of the Kindle, books themselves became Amazon’s proprietary digital products.
But is there nothing more to a bookshop ?
The need of the hour is for physical book stores and independent retailers is to raise the experience quotient.
If you were to walk into an independent bookshop almost anywhere in the world, you must have an experience of a lifetime. After all the bookshop experience is about the love of books and ideas.
Have you heard of Morioka Shoten in Tokyo ? It has preserved the love of books but emphasised singularity….
Morioka Shoten sells a single book at a time, on a weekly, rotating basis.
For a week, everything in the story is dedicated just to that book, and that book alone. Morioka Shoten even curates its one room, minimalist space to fit the theme of the book, and the author often visits and interacts with shoppers.
The author is the vice president – marketing (CVBU) at Tata Motors.