The design of a beautiful bookstore

There appears to be a pattern emerging, with more and more bookshops opening up in the most elaborate of settings in beautiful buildings around the world. I recently came across an article showcasing the twenty most beautiful bookstores, ranging from a stunning converted Dominican church in Holland, to a neo-gothic bookstore in Portugal, not to mention an elegantly-decorated, magically themed English-language bookshop in Beijing that appears to have gained inspiration from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

The bookshop: a place to buy books – so what’s all the fuss about? Why the elaborate surroundings? Well why not! Personally I think it is a fantastic trend to be setting, opening up bookshops in beautiful iconic buildings across the globe. With the popularity of Amazon continually rising, along with its resilient domination of the online retail market, it is important to maintain some sort of physical presence for the purchasing of books – real life books that is. Creating a setting for books within these surroundings makes the process of going out and buying a book something of an event; it romanticises the whole thing just a little bit. You’ve got a load of books, stunning architecture, the literary history of the writers mixed with the heritage of the building itself – what’s not to like? I think it is an incredible way to make the very most book-buying, to create an atmosphere that is indulgent and escapist from the bustle of reality, so readers can just slow down, take a step back, and take it all in. It is all too easy to buy books online, and have them delivered to your doorstep at the click of a button, within the comfort of your own home. Well that’s boring and totally uninspiring; I would much rather a trip to a stunning bookstore, the surroundings of which serve to add to the very nature of the book industry as a source for inspiration and indulgence in fantasy and fiction. I mean who wouldn’t want to peruse their books in a converted 1920s movie palace in Buenos Aires?