Success of Saigon’s Book Street

The famous Book Street on Nguyen Van Binh St., District 1 has long been known for its diverse range of books and pop up stalls. But - is it as living up to investors expectations?

It has been almost 2 years since the establishment of the Nguyen Van Binh Book Street, and according to Mr. Le Hoang, the company’s director, yes it is.

Why not? It is a good influence.

The act of turning a normal street into a place of culture and knowledge is indeed, a very good influence. Thanks to every person who stands behind those booths with those smiles and attempts to make us stop by, the place is more lively than other dull and boring bookstores.

However, selling books here is not an easy task. Sellers must organize events, and use their brains to figure out what each customer might enjoy. The sellers double up as organizers who have worked tirelessly to turn this book street into what is today: both a working space that brings profit; and a friendly space for people, especially students and their families to come and enjoy.

Do famous people stop by? Actually, they do. Many artists, authors, even those from overseas  make some time to come and meet their audience at the book street events.
Building a community “library” for students
To create this community, can we still make a profit? The answer? Yes, and it’s looking good.

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2016, 4 of the booths reached 1 billion VND and by 2017, 12 of them gained billions – which seemed “impossible” to those who chose to stand behind the booths on Nguyen Van Binh Book Street from the beginning.

Not to mention, Tre Publishing House earned 5 billion VND from 2016 to 2017. Speaking of the lucky publishing house’s success, Nguyen Minh Nhat stated that it was a change of mind for them to be on the Book Street.

According to Ms. Quach Thu Nguyet – Vice President of the Book Street Company, kids from preschool up to high school love the book street. There were many schools that decided to collaborate with the place to organize events, making it possible for children to open their minds to new things.

A famous location for youth

Many young adults confess that the place is not just for buying and reading books, but also for selfies and hanging out with friends.

For 2 years, Nguyen Van Binh Book Street has become increasingly good at attracting youth with their weekly events and exhibitions.

According to Ha Giang, a student from University of Social Sciences and Humanities, each visit to Book Street brings a new experience, which sometimes is the excitement of a new book’s introduction, or maybe the joy of contributing old books to a charity organization.

Besides from the stages for the book signing & introduction events, there are many coffee shops on Nguyen Van Binh street for reading afterwards.

Not just the joy of reading books, Phuong Thao shared with us that she often spent time with her mom coming to the place to pick out books on weekends. Her mom’s favorites are cook books, while hers are literary and business-related.

An inspiration for Myanmar

Saigon’s Book Street was an inspiration for Myanmar to have the book sellers gathered in Yangon last year, which was a very successful event.

The new book street in Yangon was not just for encouraging reading culture, but also to keep Myanmar’s publishers from going downhill