Open English bookshop, Anyone got idea????

Rental cost is cheaper in Vietnam, however the market for English books is just not there. You can prove me wrong but I don't see how you'd make any money. Not to mention you can't run a business without paying a tithe to Cong An or they'll do "random" inspections every week and scaring all your customers away.

Anna2711 wrote:

I am planning to open English Bookshop sell and exchange. But I am actually worried about market demand and Vietnamese consumer behavior overthere.

There are a few English book stores here but they aren't exactly busy. Some are simply bring two and take one exchange stores as ancillary operations to a restaurant or hotel.

Anna2711 wrote:

But I'd love to open and spend my long day reading books.

You won't make money doing this!

Anna2711 wrote:

Does anyone got any idea, coz I feel that Vietnamese English standard level is gonna increase in a short future. But Baring with a cost such as horrible rental cost and other expenses are also my big concern.

Books are subject to censorship to make sure you don't corrupt citizens with material that questions government, religion or pornography.

Besides, VN youth is in to computers and E-books, usually copied. Besides how could survive against Project Gutenberg or other free resources?

Rent in HCM can be high between USD$75-150 /metre2 for good locations. Then, to rent a premises, there are many government regulations to conquer although if you are Thai, you will get some breaks as being a citizen of ASEAN.

Hi Anna,

I saw your comment on "thought to open a coffee shop ". Thats a good idea if you combine an English book shop with a coffee shop. But the book renting shop must be not too high.

I know its your passion on reading book, but I am not sure if its applied on people while they are very busy nowadays. If yes, its crowded at weekend only

If you can open a book store coffee shop, I would like to come to support ya!!!

Its to assist other business sucessfully but u cant survive with just doing English book renting servive.

I hope you can find a good way to run your business

Thanks

Sarah

There's 2 major players already, with one being Fahasa and the other Nguyen Van Cu bookstore(s).  Your main problem would be getting the publishers to deal with you/supply their product.  Cambridge, Oxford, etc. are already raking in cash hand over fist, courtesy of the Vietnamese students of English.  Most of their books are over-priced, which could mean there's a market for used books.

Don't even think about selling copies, because there's a good chance you'd be sued for copyright infringement, if/when the publisher got word.  There has been at least one case where a publisher teamed up with a Vietnamese publishing house and brought suit against a school that was selling copies of their books. Here's a link to the story:

http://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2013 … c-lawsuit/

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Hi Anna,

I don't know if you have started up your business plan. I have a little experience and a lot of passion, and I want to share with you something that I know about Vietnamese culture. I hope that could help you in some ways.

The idea of an English bookshop is really nice. Unfortunately, Vietnamese people still don't have reading habit, especially the book in another language. We read but we haven't made it like a habit (almost of us, not all). So the demand is not really high. But of course you could be one of the people raise the campaign for reading in Vietnam.

But the idea is not impossible. I think it could be really nice if you set up an English library + coffee shop. It is not necessary to be in the center of the city. It could be anywhere near some universities and colleges. Vietnamese students now lack of studying space. The school library is too poor of documents and so boring. There is no option there. The books, the table and all the facilities are too old; the environment is neither dynamic nor motivating. Students need something fabulous and high tech like what they see about their international friends' library. All they need is a dynamic studying and sharing environment.

How does it work? You need a team to take care of drink and food. Students and other customers could stay the whole day their for studying and discussing (you could assign some areas for quiet studying and other areas for sharing and talking). With the food and drink you provide, they don't need to go out anywhere in the middle. And that is also a value added service that you could earn money. For the books, there could be two types of them. One are used for free. The other you could charge little money for borrowing.

To make sure that every people come there order something, you put the counter right in front and notice customers to order food or drink before coming to their table.

That is something I could share. It is not totally right, but maybe it could help you to think about something else.

Good luck Anna.
Bich

I dont think your idea going to work, commercially.

There are lot of quirks to operating a bookshop in Vietnam, and being a foreigner will really tangle your options to deal with those quirks. Really. And in the event you can find a Viet local to run the place for you...

It's a lot of gray areas. can your Viet guy work well with those grays? Because if (s)he doesnt, the place is going to be a hole where you pour money in.

Another way is a mix of bookshop and cafe. But, to operate a bookshop-cafe, well, even a Viet will have trouble doing it profitably. One of my acquaintance run a place like that in hanoi, and from what I can gather, it's not profitable. He only used it as a PR arm of his business, as he regularly open book signings, and artistic reviews there. (FYI, he's my ex-business contact, since I got out of book sector years ago)

You might be better, of course. But I tell you, as a Vietnamese, that the idea of a foreigner operating a bookshop is not gonna be profitable.

You want to create a highminded place? There might be other options than that.

Anna, there's also Tri Bookstore on Dong Khoi and Mo and Con on Le Loi for example. They sell primarily to tourists-and I think that's where your bread and butter would be at. Books for people to read on the plane and gift books for the folks back home. (I don't know why teachers here aren't clamoring for a bookshop.) Those two bookstores sell a few classics, a lot of Murakami and art books. You might also take a trip to  Hanoi and check out the Bookworm to see how they do things. Anyway, good luck! I worked in bookstores for 7 years in the States and it's tough!