Reading books became a source of popular entertainment during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday in Shanghai, with sales of many bookstores registering robust growth, according to the books and periodicals distribution association of Shanghai.

The sales volume of 60 brick-and-mortar bookstores in the East China's city reached 8.5 million yuan (about $1.3 million) during the holiday, about twice the online turnover, which was 4.25 million yuan in the same period.

Although most bookstores capped the daily number of customers through reservation in view of the COVID-19 epidemic, sales of more than half of the bookstores showed an upward trend compared with the Spring Festival holiday in 2019. Most bookstores kept their doors closed during last year's Lunar New Year holiday.

The association attributed the growth to diversified operations, such as the combination of bookstores with cafes.

Social science, children's books, culture and science fiction were the four most popular book categories among Shanghai readers during the holiday, the association said.