Cats, Coffee and Paper Lanterns

by Libby Cudmore

Grabbing coffee in a bookstore is something readers in the United States know very well. But how about a bookstore where you can get a beer and search the shelves? Or pet a cat while you browse the latest best-sellers? Maybe even sleep surrounded by books or read underneath the gentle light of paper lanterns?

As Weiwei Zhang, associate professor of marketing, discovered in Japan and Taiwan, these kinds of bookstores are seen as vital pieces of the community.

“Independent bookstores have their own specialty,” she said. “Some stores may only offer manga. Others may import and translate books from Europe or America. Some might carry popular books; others might have something that’s harder to find.”

And many of them have something extra — specialty drinks, snacks and homey decor — to keep customers coming back.

During her sabbatical in 2023, supported in part through an award from the Hartwick College Faculty Research Grants Program, Zhang and Seio Nakajima, a professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, interviewed 25 Tokyo bookstore owners about their businesses. Zhang continued to Taiwan on her own to further her research, engaging with 20 additional independent bookstore owners and 20 customers during the summer of 2024.

“It’s all about building community and cultural resonance,” she said. “When I interviewed customers, they all told me about their favorite bookstores, describing the unique atmosphere, selection and personal connections that keep them coming back.”

A trip to the bookstore became a vital part of the customer’s routines, Zhang said, providing not only a quiet space for relaxation but also opportunities for discovery, connection and meaningful interactions with others.

Zhang also found that bookstore owners had various motivations for starting their businesses. The owner of the Spring & Autumn Bookstore in Taipei, Taiwan, started her bookstore because she remembered that in France, the greatest ideas originated in coffee shops.

“She wanted to start a place where people could exchange ideas the same way,” said Zhang. “Another bookstore owner wanted to open a bookstore focused on depression, due to his own personal experience.”

Offering more than just reading material is also a crucial part of the marketing plan — especially when bookstores are increasingly becoming a valued “third space” away from small apartments and busy office buildings.

“In many of these Japanese bookstores, you can read the books for free as long as you order a cup of coffee,” she said. “The profits from the coffee keep their bookstores alive and allow them to offer a place where people can go and chill out in the afternoon.”

Zhang is currently analyzing the collected data and synthesizing it into publications, including a paper with Nakajima on indie bookstores’ resilience and community-building strategies, with plans to submit to journals in consumer culture theory and marketing.

“All of the owners mentioned that running a bookstore is not easy these days,” she said. “But they still do everything they can to keep it going because they believe that physical bookstores are irreplaceable and meaningful for both the community and society.”