Baixin Bookstore, a time-honored bookstore established in 1912 in Shanghai, opened after refurbishment on Wednesday as it turns into an integrated cultural and lifestyle space.

With books as the base, the century-old bookstore integrated diverse businesses such as dining, cafe, exhibitions, shows, paper and record stores, expanding the role and possibilities of a bookstore.

"The bookstore is a physical space. We must take into account people's diversified demands for offline consumption today, such as a dining area for food and leisure, (cultural) salons for social networking, exhibitions and lectures for their spiritual needs … We are trying to attract more audiences with different divisions of space layout," said Chen Xinqiao, 34, general manager of Baixin Bookstore.

The bookstore now mainly consists of six areas. In addition to well-designed book collections and categorized display areas, its dining space and paper store are eye-catching.

Named "Bao Du Bookstro", which basically means "to read and be full", the dining brand is inspired by both "bistro" and "book-stroll". Chen indicated that Baixin is like a book itself, and it hopes to provide audiences with a space where they can stroll through the books to get mentally full, and be physically full with tasty food offered at the same time.

Superpaper Sonic, the paper store set inside the bookstore, is another historic brand in Shanghai. Established in 1934, the store has been specialized in various kinds of paper, and is now looking to explore more possibilities in paper's utilization and combination with lifestyle.

Together with the opening of the bookstore, a cultural festival was launched. Running until Sunday, the event featured a number of artists and a variety of music performances covering piano, folk, jazz, R&B, DJ and more.

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