A Nanjing Local's Nanjing: Encountering Beauty at Jinchuang Bookstore

Travel time: May 2022

Location: Jinchuang Bookstore

Address: 1-4/F, Jinchuang Digital Industrial Park, No. 699, Xuanwu District, Nanjing

A colleague recommended a photo-worthy spot—Jinchuang Bookstore—and specifically advised me to avoid weekends, otherwise the crowd would kill the mood. I remembered the place but never made it there. On my birthday in May, I took a compensatory day off to give myself a break and decided to visit Jinchuang Bookstore. Get off at Xi'anmen Station of Metro Line 2, walk seven to eight minutes to the intersection of Longpan Road and Zhujiang Road, you'll find the bookstore in the most bustling area of Nanjing's Zhujiang Road. The huge glass curtain wall is eye-catching. The warm lights filtering from the first to fourth floor mark the bookstore.

Upon entering, the grandeur of the bookstore hits you. Under a circular ceiling, bookshelves curve along the wall in a natural arc, fully loaded with books. The service desk is small, nestled between two passage doors. In the center, display tables are scattered, showcasing various books. To the left of the entrance, a few steps lead closer to a giant book wall. A wall over ten meters high has been transformed into an internet-famous book wall capable of holding over ten thousand books, filled to the brim and truly spectacular. On both sides, orderly shelves house literature and poetry, with leisure seats tucked between, allowing for comfortable reading and chatting. In the distance, a bright yellow spiral staircase becomes the focal point of the perspective.

Following the scent of books, I came to another open reading area. In addition to full-wall bookshelves, wooden shelves enclose a reading space in the middle. Low shelves are always paired with sofas, creating more reading nooks through furniture design. The shelves are dotted with succulents within arm's reach, and the reading area is surrounded by greenery, making for an immersive reading experience—superb! The plants inside the bookstore create a green oxygen bar for reading. At the far end is a leisure dessert zone where you can treat yourself to coffee and sweets.

The functional division of the design is diverse; through stairs, doorways, corridors, and even a display cabinet, each has a different spatial design sense. Shelves, bookcases, and displays of various sizes are not as conventional as in older bookstores; every detail is thoughtfully crafted yet just right. On one wall, a shelf showcases the 'Revisiting Classics' section.

The bookstore is very human-centered in design. There are dedicated reading areas with desks and chairs, shelves with sofa seating, soft carpets, rush cushions for sitting on the floor, and even toy seats for kids... allowing readers to find a spot to sit and read effortlessly.

The basis of the bookstore's internet-famous ribbon staircase is this spacious wooden reading terrace. The steps themselves are turned into reading areas with rush cushions placed on them, much loved by readers. A transparent design sense.

In the center of the bookstore, above a few wooden steps, stand the towering wall shelves and the red ribbon-like escalator. The red spiral staircase looks just like a red ribbon, backed by books, with long steps matching the sky-high shelves, and light strips along the steps and shelves, creating a magical scene.

The red staircase spirals through this vast space from the first to the fourth floor, paired with an oversized bookshelf reaching the ceiling, delivering a strong visual impact. Without debating whether the red ribbon sets off the book wall or vice versa, the 'stairway of books' connecting to the 'skyward' shelves gives the bookstore a distinctive aura.

Taking the escalator to the second floor, which mainly houses social science books. In the spacious and comfortable area, wood-toned shelves paired with warm yellow lighting embrace me in a cozy atmosphere. The store stocks over 100,000 volumes, covering literature, comics, social sciences, economics & management, psychological healing, home life, children's books, and more. The rich scent of books fills the air, igniting the urge to read.

There is a rich 'military zone' here, with not only military books but also various weapon models.

On the Zhujiang Road side, there are still large floor-to-ceiling windows, with a row of comfortable sofa seats by the window where you can read or just daydream. Walking alone, I sit by the glass window, enjoying the outside view while having a moment of solitude with a spiritually rich world.

Every floor of the bookstore has large floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, traffic flows endlessly. From sunset to the first evening lights, I gaze at every person shuttling through the city, wondering if their urban life is like mine—a life of everyday hustle occasionally infused with the fragrance of books.

Riding the ribbon escalator to the third floor. The bookstore is vast, well-stocked, and comfortable for reading, with sofa seats featuring small desks awaiting readers. Here, you never have to worry about a shortage of seats; you can easily find a spot to sit and start reading without much effort.

Here, you can truly feel the bookstore's special care for children's reading; the entire third floor is dedicated as a children's reading area, and commendably, there is no section for tutoring materials. Such a children's zone is sure to be loved by kids. Even someone my age was deeply attracted by the merchandise. With Children's Day approaching, I bought two sets of hands-on experiment kits for kids and a set of markers for myself as a birthday gift.

The pink honeycomb-shaped ceiling lights are romantic and fairy-tale-like.

A father and son in the picture book area—a heartwarming scene.

Decorations of flowers and plants are everywhere.

In addition to picture books, there are various drawing tools, handicraft materials, and tools for sale.

If you have time, you can complete a handmade project here.

Under the blue ceiling lights, there's a different atmosphere, more suitable for salons and book clubs with seven or eight people.

Besides books, the bookstore also sells electronic learning products.

While strolling around, I surprisingly found a 'Reader' Bookstore here.

Encountering the Reader Bookstore here triggered memories instantly. In my childhood, an era when you subscribed to magazines annually, Reader was a must-subscribe publication.

A mailbox on one side reminds us that Reader subscriptions were delivered by the post office back then.

Inside, there are various Reader's Digest issues, cultural creative products, and reading spaces—the publication from memories feels both familiar and distant.

The bookstore space has created various reading areas.

There's also a café on the third floor. A coffee shop gives the bookstore 'warmth,' making it easier to retain readers' time spent in the store, increasing chances for serendipitous encounters with books and people, and fostering the bookstore's social value.

The café serves coffee, juice, and small cakes. The coffee is freshly ground; coffee lovers can give it a try.

Paintings hanging on the walls exude an artistic atmosphere.

Comfortable tables and chairs around the café allow readers to wander through the sea of books while enjoying the aroma of coffee and admiring the beautiful rooftop garden outside the window.

The rooftop garden is adorned with bonsai, looking particularly elegant—perfect for a few friends to enjoy a beautiful afternoon tea.

Jinchuang Bookstore has numerous reading spaces; each floor features various public reading areas, open and comfortable, making reading more relaxed and free.

The fourth floor is mainly an art exhibition area. A music space will be opened on the fourth floor, where readers with a passion for vinyl can indulge. Here, long-term art exhibitions, author signing events, film discussion sessions, various learning workshops, and other vibrant activities will be held. Two months later, the National Geographic Classic Imaging Exhibition was held on the fourth floor, a high-level visual feast.

Jinchuang Bookstore is not just a traditional book city, but more like a composite humanistic art space. The ample space endows the bookstore with infinite possibilities for reading experiences: carpets, rush mats, a bookstore mini-theater, a coffee bar, an open-air garden, art exhibition spaces, surrounding greenery... everything you can imagine—or haven't imagined—for urban reading and leisure can be found here.