9 ms·

Japanese Bookshop Stocks Only One Book at a Time

173 points by rfreytag 11y ago

tim333 11y ago
Very Zen. Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. – Confucius
- krapp 11y ago
  I hate to be that guy, but Confucius probably said no such thing.[0] [0]https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confucius#Misattributed https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confucius#Misattributed
  - tim333 11y ago
    You seem to be correct. The dangers of googling stuff.
- awl130 11y ago
  Confucianism has very little to do with Zen
  - 1stop 11y ago
    Pretty sure that's not true. Buddhism meets chinese cultural values namely Daoism, and later Confucianism, and out pops Chan Buddhism, which travels to Japan and becomes Zen. There is a clear link. How much influence is probably a thesis topic.
meric 11y ago
When playing a board game, like Terra Mystica, where there are choices I can make, and there are random elements that change from game to game, there's two routes I could go - The first is to play out the plan I've thought about so many times previously, to align the choices I make with that plan as faithfully as the random elements allow. The second, is to completely ditch whatever was in my plan, look at the random elements for this game, and play accordingly. I call the second strategy "Play to the board". The first strategy often means I'll do fine in the game, but will lose out to the player who benefited from the random elements of the game this round. The second strategy provide no such guarantees, but is the only strategy that allows great wins. In life, people can pick one of three strategies. The first is they can fantasise about what kind of car they want, what kind of job they'd like, what kind of girlfriend they'd have, and then try their best to make these "achievements", often falling short because the world is not fantasy. The second, they observe what kind of random elements the world exhibiting, e.g. "Oh these days accountants make lots of money", "These days Software Engineers have high salaries" and directly translate to mean "I am going to learn programming, even if I don't like it", and then they are playing to other people's fantasy rather than accepting their own strengths or weaknesses. Or thirdly, they can "play to the board" and make the best of what life gives them, at each moment in time. The bookshop-keeper here, is eking out every single edge he can out of books to operate his shop. Where 30 years ago operating a successful physical bookshop might mean having a large selection available at any time, and frequent events to draw crowds, today, in competition with digital books, operating a successful physical bookshop might mean emphasising the advantages of the physical book, the romanticism attached to physical objects. I get the feeling he is the type who sees what the world is like today, and because he's got experience bookshop-keeper, not a software engineer or tech startup founder, he goes with the flow with what he's got. Where in a board game, the game board is the entirety of the world, and can be considered by itself, in the real world, our own selves are part of the board - and I can't always do it, but I aspire to do what I can to play with what I've got, like the man depicted in this article.
- krallja 11y ago
  He's only sold 2100 books in 7 months - not much of a success, at least in terms of profitability.
  - littleweep 11y ago
    I suppose that would depend on how much he sold each book for. ;-)
  - meric 11y ago
    We'll see in the next 7. The Guardian article is 1 day old so far. ;)
    - ramchip 11y ago
      I don't think an English language article on the Guardian will draw many readers to a Japanese bookstore, unfortunately.
      - personjerry 11y ago
        Ginza is already a pretty popular tourist destination. Certainly this article might make the bookstore a destination to visit while in Ginza.
      - kitsune_ 11y ago
        I wouldn't be so sure. Recently Nat Geo featured a place that is located 10 miles from where I live on their cover ('Places of a life time', Äscher, Switzerland) and it's now over-run by tourists.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - biggestbob 11y ago
    If he can pay the rent for Ginza, must be making acceptable money.
  - 11y ago
have_faith 11y ago
It's more of a gallery than a bookshop. The book is on display. The theme of the book is extended into the presentation of the place. Instead of a gallery gift shop you can buy the book the gallery was themed on. It's a nice idea. Gimmicky perhaps, but nice.
- mruniverse 11y ago
  It does seem like a gallery. Also reminds me of a prix fixe menu.
- ctdonath 11y ago
  It's akin to a musician/artist performing/producing at some minor venue (park, museum, bar, etc just sitting in the side providing ambiance) where just a few minutes experience is enough for some to buy a CD/DVD/book. Give a wandering shopper a reason to drop into the gallery/store and have a remarkable few minutes, and some will buy without planning to.
derefr 11y ago
I've imagined this repeatedly. When you can buy any book you want online, physical bookstores become, in practice, galleries—and their clerks become salesmen. In such times, there's not much point to having a big store stuffed to the gunnels with anonymous tomes that the clerks don't even know they have, let alone know anything about. Bookstores have none of the things that the book-buyer wants (discoverability, recommendation or "match-making", knowledgeability); and, especially in the case of used book stores, the online copy is probably in better condition, too. When you treat books, instead, like pieces in a commercial art gallery—curated and exhibited for effect, with well-trained staff who can tell you all about them, or guide you to a book that fits your desires, or call/email you when a book you might like comes in—you get something from the physical store you don't get online. And, therefore, you actually might buy your copy from the store—maybe even at premium—because you aren't just paying for the book, but for the whole experience that led to you buying the book.
- pbhjpbhj 11y ago
  This seems to be a repeated theme [that I'm noticing] at present which to my mind hints at a particular flaw in capitalist society - that we end up paying for things by proxy. You want a curated suggestion for what to read but instead of paying for a curator to make those suggestions you pay for a book that poorly hints at the worth that you've received from the curators effort. Or you want a particular piece of software but instead of paying directly [in part] for those who conceive of the software and implement it you pay for a support contract, or [gratis Google software] you pay slightly more for many things the advertising of which in part pays for the software that you use. You want to watch a well written movie, you pay for high-priced drinks and popcorn. Et cetera. It seems that the value being generated gets removed one or more steps from the point at which the money paid that [poorly] feeds back to the system that you find that thing valuable. To me it seems that we lose a lot of the financial value to third-parties that place themselves at the interstices - the publisher's executives takes a large cut of the book price but did little of value, the 'stars' in the movie take a large cut but any one of hundreds of actors could have done that part, the advertising execs take a large cut but much of the output they direct is antagonistic towards those who are really seeking other things. Just seems a really weird way to go about improving society.
rdlecler1 11y ago
2100 books over 6 months = 350 books per month, or 12.5 per day. Assume the books are $30 - $50, so $375 - $675. Assume a 70% cost of goods sold = $112.5 - $187.5 revenue per day. Tough to make a living unless he can push those numbers a bit. Interesting idea. Hope he can do it.
- shiro 11y ago
  His previous bookstore had also a gallery space for rent, so it may be the case that this new store's model is actually closer to a gallery---author or sponsor may pay some fee. Just guess; I couldn't find an official document stating so.
  - nandemo 11y ago
    That's plausible. Indeed it would be pretty hard to break even without an alternative business model: books usually have a MRSP printed on the jacket and charging more than the MRSP is unusual; plus the rent in Ginza is over 400usd per sq m.
    - jimminy 11y ago
      The published MSRP is an issue, but generally books are available at wholesale for 40% off. So there is still a decent margin to start from, rent and staffing quickly eat into that cut. It's all about sales volume. Most mainstream hardcovers are around $16-35; after markup would be about $6.40-$14/copy in gross profit. I used to work at an independent bookstore that had a niche for local and regional(WV/Appalachia) authors and stories. This worked great as we were in a tourist area, so the influx of new customers was readily available. For local customers we offered custom orders, to address issues with limited supply. Though it would be cheaper to go to Amazon, a large portion of the community are artists and craftsmen so they liked to encourage the local economy.
tomcam 11y ago
...because in his former shop, he had to carry a whopping 200 books!
sandworm101 11y ago
So this is essentially a subscription model? It sounds like he is trying to capture the attention of a group of regulars to the point that they will all buy every book he displays. That, or every time he stocks a new book the updated store will at least turn heads. Standard bookstores never really change in appearance. I guess there is also a threat. Buy it now because it won't be here next week.
DonHopkins 11y ago
And then there's the record store that only sells (and buys) the White Album: http://hyperallergic.com/65570/we-sell-white-albums/ http://hyperallergic.com/65570/we-sell-white-albums/
- im2w1l 11y ago
  Despite the URL, the article text explains that the store actually doesn't sell them. They only buy more.
logicallee 11y ago
I'd buy it. I mean, if the guy's stocking one book, it's going to be pretty good, right? I mean, what is it going to be like that (redacted) book I was reading written in a dead author's name? [1] I was like, wait a second what is this piece of crap - then I was like, ohhh. Yes, that would explain it. That's not going to happen if I buy this guy's one book. [1] like this - http://www.avclub.com/article/pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain-7-f-101553 http://www.avclub.com/article/pay-no-attention-to-the-man-be...
CPLX 11y ago
It seems to me almost a given that the authors and publishers are paying or otherwise helping support these endeavors, via some sort of cooperative advertising type model. Some of his comments seem to hint at that. Either that or he has a trust fund, given Tokyo real estate prices there don't seem to be many other reasonable hypotheses.
Xixi 11y ago
I adopted a similar strategy for Tomotcha: we pick/sell only one tea each month. Most of our competitors send several samples each month, and from a revenue point of view maybe it's better, but I like the ability to give focus to a single tea. For instance our next shipment is a Genmaicha: it's a combination of green tealeaves and roasted brown rice. The first time I drank Genmaicha I didn't like it much, because it's so different from what I was used to drink. But now I love it. You have to give each tea a try: if you just drink small samples you'll never develop a taste for the more complex ones.
- listic 11y ago
  If I like a particular tea, do you allow me to buy it again, afterwards? It would be reasonable, I think.
  - Xixi 11y ago
    It really depends on the tea, if we still have it or if we can still reorder it from the producer. It will be pretty much impossible for a Shincha (new tea), as they are usually limited in quantity, and quite short lived. On the other end of the spectrum roasted green teas (houjicha) live much longer, so we can usually reorder them from the producer if we are out of stock.
fengwick3 11y ago
Wow this sounds like it could be something straight out of Italo Calvino's "If on a winter's night a traveler".
- justincormack 11y ago
  Also from the TV show Portlandia, which had an episode about shops selling a single item.
jtchang 11y ago
A lot of people are calculating the cost of the book based off of MSRP and discounting it. However am I the only one that thinks he might consider selling the book above MSRP? In a way buying a book from here is an experience.
therobotking 11y ago
What a totally organic and subtle way of advertising. Ugh. Get lost.
- DanBC 11y ago
  On a site like HN you're going to get many people talking about what they're doing. Parent poster didn't post a clicky link, and it's not shoe-horned in - they're doing the same as this bookshop. If people are interested in what this bookshop is doing they're probably wondering if it works online. Searching for the word tomotcha shows a single submission and a few mentions over the past year.
- dang 11y ago
  You can't attack another user like that on HN, even when you think their comment was out of line. Please don't do this again. (Xixi's comment was fine anyhow. It's good when people talk about what they're working on, and the connection to the OP was a nice one. Sometimes HN users do get excessive or inappropriate about it, but there was nothing of that here.) We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10786664 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10786664 and marked it off-topic.
Grue3 11y ago
I can't really back this up with a source but I read somewhere that this is similar to how traditional Japanese merchants used to operate. They would show a customer a single item, which he could either accept or refuse. Then another item was brought in and so on. By restricting access to the entire catalogue the merchant was able to get better deals out of the customer.
rmason 11y ago
Zeroing in on one book is crazy. However singling out a single author each week might work. One week it's Hemingway and the next week perhaps it's Elmore Leonard. You decorate the store and the key is the author has many books and you stock them all. In a place like Tokyo, NYC or London this approach might work. It would almost be like an art gallery highlighting dozens of paintings by a single artist. You could invite people in to discuss the author and those events would draw in even more people.
keithpeter 11y ago
The room looks like an art gallery as others have commented. I can remember seeing displays of the catalogue for an exhibition in art galleries - a large array of a single book. The arithmetic implies some form of subsidy, and that room looks lovely. There is a street view here... http://www.takram.com/projects/a-single-room-with-a-single-book-morioka-shoten/ http://www.takram.com/projects/a-single-room-with-a-single-b... ...looks to be an exercise in branding/design. I'm wondering if a community will form around the 50 or so titles stocked in a year. A book per week is a reasonable reading target for most educated people. If so, then a coffee shop model becomes possible: a coffee shop stocking one title per week and encouraging discussion while continuing to sell their coffee and food to pay the rent.
- usrusr 11y ago
  Coffee shop was also my primary idea of how it could work economically. An entirely new hell of "no spoilers" ;) Other than that, a carefully balanced mix of freely curated selection and occasional paid features might also be a way to monetize some of the attention generated.
- eginhard 11y ago
  It's also open between 1-8pm and, according to that link, events are organised every night, so building such a community seems to be a main part of the concept.
kaybe 11y ago
There is more information and photos in this blog post: http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2015/09/06/morioka-shoten-ginza-a-bookstore-that-only-carries-one-title-per-week/ http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2015/09/06/morioka-shoten-ginza-...
njharman 11y ago
This is "sell a lifestyle / experience" model like Starbucks and to some degree Apple. A model, although very successful, I abhor. It purports that you can "buy" happiness. It targets those so affluent and/or so bored that mere ownership of things is no longer enough to make them feel special.

173 points by rfreytag 11y ago

tim333 11y ago

Very Zen. Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. – Confucius

krapp 11y ago
I hate to be that guy, but Confucius probably said no such thing.[0] [0]https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confucius#Misattributed https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confucius#Misattributed
- tim333 11y ago
  You seem to be correct. The dangers of googling stuff.
awl130 11y ago
Confucianism has very little to do with Zen
- 1stop 11y ago
  Pretty sure that's not true. Buddhism meets chinese cultural values namely Daoism, and later Confucianism, and out pops Chan Buddhism, which travels to Japan and becomes Zen. There is a clear link. How much influence is probably a thesis topic.

meric 11y ago

When playing a board game, like Terra Mystica, where there are choices I can make, and there are random elements that change from game to game, there's two routes I could go - The first is to play out the plan I've thought about so many times previously, to align the choices I make with that plan as faithfully as the random elements allow. The second, is to completely ditch whatever was in my plan, look at the random elements for this game, and play accordingly. I call the second strategy "Play to the board". The first strategy often means I'll do fine in the game, but will lose out to the player who benefited from the random elements of the game this round. The second strategy provide no such guarantees, but is the only strategy that allows great wins. In life, people can pick one of three strategies. The first is they can fantasise about what kind of car they want, what kind of job they'd like, what kind of girlfriend they'd have, and then try their best to make these "achievements", often falling short because the world is not fantasy. The second, they observe what kind of random elements the world exhibiting, e.g. "Oh these days accountants make lots of money", "These days Software Engineers have high salaries" and directly translate to mean "I am going to learn programming, even if I don't like it", and then they are playing to other people's fantasy rather than accepting their own strengths or weaknesses. Or thirdly, they can "play to the board" and make the best of what life gives them, at each moment in time. The bookshop-keeper here, is eking out every single edge he can out of books to operate his shop. Where 30 years ago operating a successful physical bookshop might mean having a large selection available at any time, and frequent events to draw crowds, today, in competition with digital books, operating a successful physical bookshop might mean emphasising the advantages of the physical book, the romanticism attached to physical objects. I get the feeling he is the type who sees what the world is like today, and because he's got experience bookshop-keeper, not a software engineer or tech startup founder, he goes with the flow with what he's got. Where in a board game, the game board is the entirety of the world, and can be considered by itself, in the real world, our own selves are part of the board - and I can't always do it, but I aspire to do what I can to play with what I've got, like the man depicted in this article.

krallja 11y ago
He's only sold 2100 books in 7 months - not much of a success, at least in terms of profitability.
- littleweep 11y ago
  I suppose that would depend on how much he sold each book for. ;-)
- meric 11y ago
  We'll see in the next 7. The Guardian article is 1 day old so far. ;)
  - ramchip 11y ago
    I don't think an English language article on the Guardian will draw many readers to a Japanese bookstore, unfortunately.
    - personjerry 11y ago
      Ginza is already a pretty popular tourist destination. Certainly this article might make the bookstore a destination to visit while in Ginza.
    - kitsune_ 11y ago
      I wouldn't be so sure. Recently Nat Geo featured a place that is located 10 miles from where I live on their cover ('Places of a life time', Äscher, Switzerland) and it's now over-run by tourists.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- biggestbob 11y ago
  If he can pay the rent for Ginza, must be making acceptable money.
- 11y ago

have_faith 11y ago

It's more of a gallery than a bookshop. The book is on display. The theme of the book is extended into the presentation of the place. Instead of a gallery gift shop you can buy the book the gallery was themed on. It's a nice idea. Gimmicky perhaps, but nice.

mruniverse 11y ago
It does seem like a gallery. Also reminds me of a prix fixe menu.
ctdonath 11y ago
It's akin to a musician/artist performing/producing at some minor venue (park, museum, bar, etc just sitting in the side providing ambiance) where just a few minutes experience is enough for some to buy a CD/DVD/book. Give a wandering shopper a reason to drop into the gallery/store and have a remarkable few minutes, and some will buy without planning to.

derefr 11y ago

I've imagined this repeatedly. When you can buy any book you want online, physical bookstores become, in practice, galleries—and their clerks become salesmen. In such times, there's not much point to having a big store stuffed to the gunnels with anonymous tomes that the clerks don't even know they have, let alone know anything about. Bookstores have none of the things that the book-buyer wants (discoverability, recommendation or "match-making", knowledgeability); and, especially in the case of used book stores, the online copy is probably in better condition, too. When you treat books, instead, like pieces in a commercial art gallery—curated and exhibited for effect, with well-trained staff who can tell you all about them, or guide you to a book that fits your desires, or call/email you when a book you might like comes in—you get something from the physical store you don't get online. And, therefore, you actually might buy your copy from the store—maybe even at premium—because you aren't just paying for the book, but for the whole experience that led to you buying the book.

pbhjpbhj 11y ago
This seems to be a repeated theme [that I'm noticing] at present which to my mind hints at a particular flaw in capitalist society - that we end up paying for things by proxy. You want a curated suggestion for what to read but instead of paying for a curator to make those suggestions you pay for a book that poorly hints at the worth that you've received from the curators effort. Or you want a particular piece of software but instead of paying directly [in part] for those who conceive of the software and implement it you pay for a support contract, or [gratis Google software] you pay slightly more for many things the advertising of which in part pays for the software that you use. You want to watch a well written movie, you pay for high-priced drinks and popcorn. Et cetera. It seems that the value being generated gets removed one or more steps from the point at which the money paid that [poorly] feeds back to the system that you find that thing valuable. To me it seems that we lose a lot of the financial value to third-parties that place themselves at the interstices - the publisher's executives takes a large cut of the book price but did little of value, the 'stars' in the movie take a large cut but any one of hundreds of actors could have done that part, the advertising execs take a large cut but much of the output they direct is antagonistic towards those who are really seeking other things. Just seems a really weird way to go about improving society.

rdlecler1 11y ago

2100 books over 6 months = 350 books per month, or 12.5 per day. Assume the books are $30 - $50, so $375 - $675. Assume a 70% cost of goods sold = $112.5 - $187.5 revenue per day. Tough to make a living unless he can push those numbers a bit. Interesting idea. Hope he can do it.

shiro 11y ago
His previous bookstore had also a gallery space for rent, so it may be the case that this new store's model is actually closer to a gallery---author or sponsor may pay some fee. Just guess; I couldn't find an official document stating so.
- nandemo 11y ago
  That's plausible. Indeed it would be pretty hard to break even without an alternative business model: books usually have a MRSP printed on the jacket and charging more than the MRSP is unusual; plus the rent in Ginza is over 400usd per sq m.
  - jimminy 11y ago
    The published MSRP is an issue, but generally books are available at wholesale for 40% off. So there is still a decent margin to start from, rent and staffing quickly eat into that cut. It's all about sales volume. Most mainstream hardcovers are around $16-35; after markup would be about $6.40-$14/copy in gross profit. I used to work at an independent bookstore that had a niche for local and regional(WV/Appalachia) authors and stories. This worked great as we were in a tourist area, so the influx of new customers was readily available. For local customers we offered custom orders, to address issues with limited supply. Though it would be cheaper to go to Amazon, a large portion of the community are artists and craftsmen so they liked to encourage the local economy.

tomcam 11y ago

...because in his former shop, he had to carry a whopping 200 books!

sandworm101 11y ago

So this is essentially a subscription model? It sounds like he is trying to capture the attention of a group of regulars to the point that they will all buy every book he displays. That, or every time he stocks a new book the updated store will at least turn heads. Standard bookstores never really change in appearance. I guess there is also a threat. Buy it now because it won't be here next week.

DonHopkins 11y ago

And then there's the record store that only sells (and buys) the White Album: http://hyperallergic.com/65570/we-sell-white-albums/ http://hyperallergic.com/65570/we-sell-white-albums/

im2w1l 11y ago
Despite the URL, the article text explains that the store actually doesn't sell them. They only buy more.

logicallee 11y ago

I'd buy it. I mean, if the guy's stocking one book, it's going to be pretty good, right? I mean, what is it going to be like that (redacted) book I was reading written in a dead author's name? [1] I was like, wait a second what is this piece of crap - then I was like, ohhh. Yes, that would explain it. That's not going to happen if I buy this guy's one book. [1] like this - http://www.avclub.com/article/pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain-7-f-101553 http://www.avclub.com/article/pay-no-attention-to-the-man-be...

CPLX 11y ago

It seems to me almost a given that the authors and publishers are paying or otherwise helping support these endeavors, via some sort of cooperative advertising type model. Some of his comments seem to hint at that. Either that or he has a trust fund, given Tokyo real estate prices there don't seem to be many other reasonable hypotheses.

Xixi 11y ago

I adopted a similar strategy for Tomotcha: we pick/sell only one tea each month. Most of our competitors send several samples each month, and from a revenue point of view maybe it's better, but I like the ability to give focus to a single tea. For instance our next shipment is a Genmaicha: it's a combination of green tealeaves and roasted brown rice. The first time I drank Genmaicha I didn't like it much, because it's so different from what I was used to drink. But now I love it. You have to give each tea a try: if you just drink small samples you'll never develop a taste for the more complex ones.

listic 11y ago
If I like a particular tea, do you allow me to buy it again, afterwards? It would be reasonable, I think.
- Xixi 11y ago
  It really depends on the tea, if we still have it or if we can still reorder it from the producer. It will be pretty much impossible for a Shincha (new tea), as they are usually limited in quantity, and quite short lived. On the other end of the spectrum roasted green teas (houjicha) live much longer, so we can usually reorder them from the producer if we are out of stock.

fengwick3 11y ago

Wow this sounds like it could be something straight out of Italo Calvino's "If on a winter's night a traveler".

justincormack 11y ago
Also from the TV show Portlandia, which had an episode about shops selling a single item.

jtchang 11y ago

A lot of people are calculating the cost of the book based off of MSRP and discounting it. However am I the only one that thinks he might consider selling the book above MSRP? In a way buying a book from here is an experience.

therobotking 11y ago

What a totally organic and subtle way of advertising. Ugh. Get lost.

DanBC 11y ago
On a site like HN you're going to get many people talking about what they're doing. Parent poster didn't post a clicky link, and it's not shoe-horned in - they're doing the same as this bookshop. If people are interested in what this bookshop is doing they're probably wondering if it works online. Searching for the word tomotcha shows a single submission and a few mentions over the past year.
dang 11y ago
You can't attack another user like that on HN, even when you think their comment was out of line. Please don't do this again. (Xixi's comment was fine anyhow. It's good when people talk about what they're working on, and the connection to the OP was a nice one. Sometimes HN users do get excessive or inappropriate about it, but there was nothing of that here.) We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10786664 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10786664 and marked it off-topic.

Grue3 11y ago

I can't really back this up with a source but I read somewhere that this is similar to how traditional Japanese merchants used to operate. They would show a customer a single item, which he could either accept or refuse. Then another item was brought in and so on. By restricting access to the entire catalogue the merchant was able to get better deals out of the customer.

rmason 11y ago

Zeroing in on one book is crazy. However singling out a single author each week might work. One week it's Hemingway and the next week perhaps it's Elmore Leonard. You decorate the store and the key is the author has many books and you stock them all. In a place like Tokyo, NYC or London this approach might work. It would almost be like an art gallery highlighting dozens of paintings by a single artist. You could invite people in to discuss the author and those events would draw in even more people.

keithpeter 11y ago

The room looks like an art gallery as others have commented. I can remember seeing displays of the catalogue for an exhibition in art galleries - a large array of a single book. The arithmetic implies some form of subsidy, and that room looks lovely. There is a street view here... http://www.takram.com/projects/a-single-room-with-a-single-book-morioka-shoten/ http://www.takram.com/projects/a-single-room-with-a-single-b... ...looks to be an exercise in branding/design. I'm wondering if a community will form around the 50 or so titles stocked in a year. A book per week is a reasonable reading target for most educated people. If so, then a coffee shop model becomes possible: a coffee shop stocking one title per week and encouraging discussion while continuing to sell their coffee and food to pay the rent.

usrusr 11y ago
Coffee shop was also my primary idea of how it could work economically. An entirely new hell of "no spoilers" ;) Other than that, a carefully balanced mix of freely curated selection and occasional paid features might also be a way to monetize some of the attention generated.
eginhard 11y ago
It's also open between 1-8pm and, according to that link, events are organised every night, so building such a community seems to be a main part of the concept.

kaybe 11y ago

There is more information and photos in this blog post: http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2015/09/06/morioka-shoten-ginza-a-bookstore-that-only-carries-one-title-per-week/ http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2015/09/06/morioka-shoten-ginza-...

njharman 11y ago

This is "sell a lifestyle / experience" model like Starbucks and to some degree Apple. A model, although very successful, I abhor. It purports that you can "buy" happiness. It targets those so affluent and/or so bored that mere ownership of things is no longer enough to make them feel special.