Since its opening in January, Saigon’s downtown book street has seen plenty of visitors but fewer sales than expected.
According to VietnamNet, vendors on Nguyen Van Binh Street have sold over 240,000 books, bringing in a total of VND15 billion (US$675,000), however sales have been on the decline in recent months, reports Vietnam News.
It’s not for lack of interest. In its first six months, the book street attracted 500,000 visitors, a quarter of whom were foreigners. The street features a total of 20 booths from major Vietnamese publishers like Phuong Nam Books, Nha Nam, Tri Viet, Youth Publishing House, Literature and Art Publishing House and Thai Ha Books.
Moving forward, visitors and book vendors have called for an expansion to the children’s playground area to attract more families, while others have called for a website for the book street in order to bring in more readers. Officials are also hoping to promote the street as a tourism destination.
