The curious ‘bookstore’ around the corner

There’s a unusual storefront tucked in the alleys of Da’an district. At first glance, it looks like a bookstore, with the large floor-to-ceiling windows and piles of books. If you stop to take a good look, it more closely resembles a deserted storage room with endless mounds of books that extend deep into the space. I have never seen anyone enter or leave during the few times I’ve walked past it.

It’s a curious sight in such a quiet residential area and I secretly enjoy pondering its existence each time I see it. The space holds thousands and thousands of stories and ideas, but the only one I’m most interested in is its origin story. My boyfriend tells me that it’s an old publishing house that has been around since he was young but doesn’t have much else to add.

Why are the books piled in such a way? Surely as a book publisher, it would strive to place them in a neat and tidy manner on shelves, organizing them according to the Dewey Decimal System or some other classification system. The mountains of Chinese and English books wouldn’t look out of place in someone’s dusty attic.

Perhaps the book piles are there for aesthetic purposes? An accidental one, where one pile of books formed and slowly grew like cell division. If so, I can can surely appreciate the display.

The only movement is a looping waterfall over one window panel, a rather soothing and peculiar feature juxtaposed with the stillness of the store. Also somewhat ironic, since a wet book is probably a bibliophile’s worst nightmare.

A quick Google search can probably answer all my questions in under 2 minutes but somethings are best left unexplained.