TOKYO - As more bookstores close amid stiff competition with online shops, their operators are striving to introduce new business models to entice customers to stay longer at their stores.
In spring 2025, MaruzenJunkudo Bookstores Co., a major Tokyo-based bookstore chain, opened a new store in the Toranomon business district. The store, called "magmabooks," provides unique bookmarks for customers to take around the entrance.
A question is written on one side of the bookmark such as "What if robots became the main characters of this world?" or "Have you ever questioned modern society?" along with titles of related books on the other side.
The customer strolls through the bookshelves, looking for the answers in what the bookstore operator calls a "question stroll."
Unlike traditional bookstores, the bookshelves feature a unique arrangement that places together different types of books -- paperbacks, comics, specialized, illustrated and picture books.
"We place books in a way that resembles someone's personal bookshelf, mixing genres and stacking them horizontally," Yasuhiro Watanabe, the store manager, said. "This setup was designed to bring about unexpected encounters with books."
Watanabe said the store has a paid lounge where customers can read books before buying them.
Tsutaya Bookstore Korien in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, combines a bookstore with a gym, a lounge and a cafe, saying it offers "a place where you can achieve a fulfilling daily life" under a new concept.
Renovated in 2024, the store, run by Culture Convenience Club Co., allows customers to enjoy reading while drinking alcohol in the lounge or working out at the gym.
Store manager Takako Nagano said that the store "has become a local gathering space."
Bunkitsu Sakae, a bookshop in the Sakae shopping district of Nagoya, opened in the spring of 2024 with the concept of "a bookshop where you can savor culture, with an admission fee," according to the project operator, a subsidiary of Nippon Shuppan Hanbai Inc.
Customers can enter the large cafe area of the store by paying the entrance fee. There, they can take their time reading books from the shelves while enjoying free coffee and tea.
"We have created places with different atmospheres for different purposes, like a space where you can quietly immerse yourself in reading, and a space where you can have light meals for an additional fee," Tatsuya Kagami, the shop manager, said.
