A bookstore interior designer from Hong Kong addresses the bookstore forum in Chengdu, Sichuan province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"Each book on our shelves represents the history of writers' souls from a certain country, so that you can see the country's soul from that book," he says.

He predicts that mainstream bookstores will eventually be a combination of cafe and bookstore, a model similar to that of Starbucks. However, he says, there will be a lot of bestsellers in these bookstores, which "will be detrimental to the nation's soul being nourished".

Librairie Avant-Garde is located in what was a 4,000 sq m underground parking lot and has couch seating for 300 people. To some extent it has become a kind of public place, some customers popping in for just a few minutes, perhaps to buy a book, and others who can spend the whole day there reading.

Katherine Orphan, manager of The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, says it also opens its doors to various kinds of readers, including the homeless and the down and out.

Bookshops should not reject these people, she says, and Last Bookstore allows them to buy books at $1 apiece. She hopes that for those who are homeless or who have little money, the shop can be a haven.

The Last Bookstore started as a second-hand bookstore in 2009, was on architecturaldigest.com's list of world's most beautiful bookstores last year, and every year attracts thousands of visitors from around the world.