广州购书中心

This guide to Guangzhou Book Center follows its opening week in November 1994, when clerks who had never used a cash register or a computerized inventory system faced fifteen thousand square meters of books and a crowd equal to roughly a tenth of the city pushing through the doors. It traces the store from its 1992 groundbreaking west of the Tianhe Sports Center through decades of adapting, as clerks who once minded shelves became hosts running author talks and workshops. You'll hear how the staff responded when online shopping finally dented sales in 2013. Stand on Tianhe Road and picture that first, overwhelmed crowd.