Prose ‖ Corner Encounter Bookstore

It's rare to get on the second morning shift. I wanted to go for a walk in Martyrs Park. When I passed a familiar street corner, I was pleasantly surprised to find a very beautiful bookstore there, so my footsteps were attracted. The bookstore used to be a tobacco and alcohol supermarket, but somehow it has closed down. Books, tobacco and alcohol are actually "spiritual food" for modern people, but tobacco and alcohol are more attractive to people, and tobacco hotels all over the street are an obvious example. It should be considered for a long time that the new receiver dares to open a bookstore in the same place. Thinking of this, I can't help but pay more respect to the store.

The bookstore faces north and faces the street, leaving only a narrow pedestrian street at the door. There are schools, banks, hospitals and residential areas nearby, and the roads are busy, crowded and lively. Push open the revolving door and walk in. Inside and outside the door are two different worlds. In the center of the hall, there are more than ten rows of high bookshelves that go straight to the ceiling. A rich book is quietly under the pink light. There is a small coffee bar in the east and a booth in the south, which is convenient for customers to take a nap, drink coffee and read books. There is a long table and bench near the window in the north. A large group of students in school uniforms put their schoolbags under their feet and prone on the table to do their homework and review their lessons. The store seems to care nothing about the bookstore becoming a study room. I can't help laughing at the thought that there should be a special atmosphere for self-study in such an environment with elegant books, bright windows and air conditioning.

Maybe it's because it's newly opened. There are not many kinds of books, which are relatively simple. Except for students who are studying by themselves and a few customers who are having a coffee break, there are still relatively few people who actually read and buy books. I paced aimlessly between bookshelves, expecting unexpected surprises. Most of the bookshelves are huge books, beautifully bound and the paper feels full of texture. In order to facilitate everyone to read and buy, each category is ready to open the "trial reading" of plastic packaging. Customers feel satisfied and like it after trying it out, so they can buy unopened new books with confidence. This greatly reduces the pollution caused by customers opening new books at will.

I think the store used to be a frequent visitor to the bookstore and understood the psychology of book buyers. Many customers see a very attractive book through its cover, and they really want to see its contents formally. However, when they think that these books have not been opened yet, they tear open the packaging at will. In case the contents are not satisfied and they don't buy them, they will think it is "harm" to the books. So many customers hesitated and finally gave up buying. Of course, thick-skinned people can open them at will, but those who really love books will never open a new book at will in a bookstore.

Although there are not many books, the store should spend a lot of time purchasing books. Many books are the most popular bestsellers at present, and many of them are my favorite literature and history books. After some selection, I fell in love with three good books and worried about their thickness. Suddenly, I felt a sense of pressure, and I had to pay for them. But I'm worried that "I can't read books unless I borrow them". Even if I buy them for nothing, I think that my humble room is small, and there is only room for my knees, and there is nowhere to store books ... My heart is always wavering between "buying" and "not buying". I suddenly thought of seeing if there were any e-books, so I took out my mobile phone and opened the reading software to search. Sure enough, there is an e-book with the same name, and the price is less than half of the physical book, which further strengthens my idea of buying an e-book.

I suddenly have a feeling of being a thief. Obviously, the store provided the venue for me to introduce this book, but after I took a fancy to this book, I left the matchmaker-the store aside, which was too contractual. Besides, they are new. Since they love books so much, why not spend money on them? I finally put down the paper book and chose the e-book. No wonder so many physical bookstores are in trouble or even closed down, because there are too many customers with a mentality like me. Faced with the high operating costs and the multiple attacks of online e-books, physical bookstores are struggling to survive in the cracks, trying to provide people with a spiritual shelter, just like "lonely and brave people" struggling in the hustle and bustle of infatuation with money and material desires.

Although I have gradually become accustomed to the convenience of reading e-books anytime and anywhere, I still firmly believe that physical bookstores still have a broad living space. The warm white title page, faint fragrance and heavy texture of paper books are irreplaceable by the cold electronic screen after all. In a modern metropolis, the physical bookstore can save the loss of humanistic spirit and the lack of moral ideals, such as the rickety pavilions standing in the market economy and the Internet era, and provide a soul and spiritual shelter for every cultural person and intellectual. A good book can affect the souls of thousands of people; But a good bookstore can build a cultural highland of the city, so that people can stop rushing and re-examine and taste the pure and quiet truth, goodness and beauty.

When I walked out of the bookstore, the night was getting deeper and the city was brightly lit. I crossed the street and walked diagonally towards the bookstore. Its outline is hidden in high-rise buildings, and the light is weak, but it is still on.