Cainz and book wholesaler Tohan design flat-pack fixtures for struggling bookshops
Japan's bookshops have been diversifying into stationery, goods and events to survive for years; Cainz and wholesaler Tohan have now built the fixtures to do it affordably, piloted at a real Kawasaki store and on sale nationwide from October 21.
Cainz, Japan's largest home-centre chain by sales, and Tohan, one of the country's two dominant book wholesalers, have co-developed a line of flat-pack wooden display fixtures designed to help bookshops sell non-book goods, the companies said. Tohan led the development as producer, with design input from the Gunma- and Tokyo-based architecture firm SNARK, and Cainz is selling the resulting three products through its made-to-order CAINZ DIY MARKET platform from October 21.
The pair tested the fixtures under real conditions in March, running an operational trial at Sumiyoshi Shobo's branch near Miyazakidai station in Kawasaki to see how the pieces worked in use and how they looked once laid out. The resulting range covers three price points, tax included: a reconfigurable display shelf at ¥29,800, a table that assembles into four shapes at ¥19,800, and a smaller tabletop display at ¥7,980. The shelf uses removable boards and S-hooks and, like the rest of the line, is built from flat parts for easy assembly and storage -- furniture a bookshop owner can put up and take down without a contractor.
It is a small, practical answer to a problem Japan's book trade has been living with for years: a shrinking network of independent bookshops under pressure to widen beyond books into stationery, miscellaneous goods and event space just to keep the lights on, usually without the capital for a proper renovation. A wholesaler putting its own name behind off-the-shelf store fittings, rather than just the books that move through it, says as much about Tohan's reading of its customers' balance sheets as it does about furniture design.