EFFORTS TO REVIVE BOSU BOOK STREET

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Bosu Book Street, first established during the Korean War, is the only used bookstore alley in the country. But urban development in recent years has pushed out the bookstores, forcing them to close down. In response, people have been making efforts to keep the street alive such as releasing a smartphone app that provides book information and selling a Bosu-dong coffee blend.

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When a book title is searched, used bookstore information pops up immediately. A customer picks one of the bookstores and the monitor shows its location. This is a digital book catalog kiosk set up in the cultural center at the entrance to Bosu Book Street in Busan. It contains information about roughly 170,000 books sold in 24 out of 29 bookstores in Bosu Book Street.

[Soundbite] Heo Yang-gun(Chair, Bosu Book Street Association) : "It creates curiosity. It affects our sales in many ways."

A smartphone app providing book information is to be released soon. Information about used books sold in each bookstore has been digitalized. Discussions are also underway to build a Bosu Book Street online store. There is a coffee blend that aims to promote the book street and attract customers. A cup of coffee is sold for only 1,000 won at two cafes in Bosu-dong operated by the Jung-gu senior club.

[Soundbite] Park Seong-woo·Lee Jeong-min(Released the Bosu-dong blend) : "It’s a good specialty coffee blend. We would have thought about cost if we only thought of it as a one-time event. If tourists mentioned this on their social media, it would boost people’s interest in Bosu Book Street."

Local high school students have released a digital album, a music video and a collection of poems to promote the country’s only used bookstore street. Bosu Book Street has survived for more than 70 years since it was established during the Korean War. Fewer than 30 bookstores remain on the street that once had flourished with more than a hundred booksellers. More and more people hope to preserve this beloved old book street for a long time.