I live in Beijing, and I like to read. Those two things must have marked me as a likely bookstore customer, because during my first few months in town, I must’ve had at least a dozen people recommend The Beijing Bookworm to me. The shop sounded interesting enough— an English-language bookstore and cafe, located right in the heart of a city that, well, just doesn’t seem to have many bookshops. Naturally, I added the Sanlitun landmark to my list of places to visit.
Somehow, though, time got away from me. Despite my best intentions, and despite the fact that I’d been living in the capital for over a year, I never actually got around to visiting the place. Until this past November, that is, when I caught a short blurb in the local news that the store was planning to shut down the very next week. It wasn’t exactly clear why, but after fourteen straight years of operation, the Bookworm was slated to close its doors for good. Suddenly, my long-overdue visit rocketed up to the top of my to-do list.
My very first visit to The Beijing Bookworm came on its very last day of operation, and I took my time about climbing the front stairs that afternoon. Inside, even though the shelves were picked pretty much clean from all the other discount-minded shoppers, it was painfully obvious that I’d been missing out. The place was small and cozy, equipped with a busy cafe counter and an English-language lending library. All of the tables near the windows were taken, those with the best views claimed by obvious writers, men and women hunched over their laptops as if they were rushing to finish up their manuscripts before closing time. Honestly, I felt a twinge of regret at not having had the foresight to bring along my own work-in-progress— maybe I could have set up shop next to these loyal patrons for a little while.
We grabbed a couple small things as a token purchase, then headed back out into the world. Beijing is a noisy, busy place, and that fall day it felt just a bit colder than normal. It’s a city on the go, one where you might see a hundred people staring at their phones for every one person with their nose in a book. For some reason, that disparity seemed even more pronounced now. Of course, there’s always the chance that the Bookworm might eventually find another foothold in town, and be able to pick up right where it left off.
But just in case that wish never becomes a reality, I’m grateful that I got to know the place— if only for an hour or so.
