My mother is a reader so much that she burned down her boarding house when she was still in school just because she was reading badly in the kitchen but had work, and went out in a flash. The fire caught on paper. But, luckily, all of my mother's friends and teachers helped her repay the entire house..." - Ms. Le Ngoc Anh, daughter of Ms. Pham Thi Mao - famous bookstore owner at 5 Dinh Le Street, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, was moved when talking about her late mother.
The story of an old bookstore
In December 2024, Ms. Ngoc Anh launched 2 homestays called Almanach House. The homestay on Dinh Le street was originally a part of the Mao bookstore.
Inside each room, instead of TVs, books are filled on the shelves. The room in the middle of the street is not noisy, only has natural light, rustic wooden tables and chairs, and the smell of books. Even on the floor, it is easy to see the book covers being tightly covered. Mixed with the typical green paint color of a long-standing bookstore. Visitors here will be immersed in the space of books and stories and can borrow reading books from the main room of a bookstore that is over 30 years old in the old apartment building.
I think I am not just a homestay but also a flexible space - the heir to the Mao bookstore did not hide his big dream. Because, this space could be opened by her to a place for those who want to read, sip tea, coffee and discuss books.
For 7 years, since Mrs. Mao passed away and Ms. Ngoc Anh took on the responsibility of preserving and developing her mother's heritage. She changed the design 3 times and finally agreed to open a homestay.
The name was chosen inspired by the book that changed the lives of the whole family in the late 90s: Almanach - World Civilizations. This is also the most famous book out of more than 500 exclusive books that her parents: Mr. Le Luy - Mrs. Mao personally translated and printed. This valuable book on human knowledge opened a turning point, helping people earn a profit of up to 500 taels of gold at that time, accumulating more capital and expanding trading space. Ms. Ngoc Anh believes that this is the first "golden brick" to lay the foundation for the bookstore.
She said: "The product that tourists see today may have been born from the efforts not only of the owner but also of the architect and construction team. The architect has accompanied me since designing the main cabin of the Tao bookstore and during the homestay, he also "lost sleep" because of small details, like me".
Each member of the project does not focus on profit because the main goal is always to create a space with real cultural value for the community.
After more than two months of using the homestay, her family has not yet made a communication or advertising plan. However, thanks to the " Traditional tradition", homestays have become known and booked by many tourists, among which are many long-time customers of the Tao bookstore.
I am grateful to hear the confidences of my mothers former customers, saying, through the Tao bookstore, I have them todays success. Many of them come to buy books without looking at the price and just pack them into boxes to take home, many of them tell me to reserve a room for them to live in whenever they return to Hanoi," Ms. Ngoc Anh shared.
hugging the dream of heritage left by her mother
As a person who mainly works in the real estate environment, Ms. Ngoc Anh has had to struggle with herself a lot, to balance the story of preserving the heritage left by her mother or easily earn money from leasing premises.
There were times when she felt that the bookstore could not make a profit, even had to spend money in its own pocket, and she had to put her own money into the bookstore to " supported" it. Online business is on the rise, modern technology devices are on the rise, currently on Dinh Le street, there are only three or four bookstores. Many bookstores have even had to " leave" a significant reading space to turn it into a playground with slides, soccer fields...
With less people coming to buy books at bookstores, today's children rarely maintain the habit of reading physical books. It is all right to be casual, that is the law of life. Ms. Ngoc Anh herself also clearly sees this truth, but it does not mean that she accepts all changes.
She confided: In the past, when my mother was still alive, I used to blame her for being sick and ill, but she still worried about the bookstore, keeping the doors open. I also said that I would never be in the same book business as my mother because it was difficult to get rich, and all the profits became the capital for buying the book.
But my mother's answer at that time woke me up: My family's life became stable thanks to books and I hope that thanks to books, in the future, readers will be bored with books, thereby helping the country develop".
Understanding her mother's burning passion for books, Ms. Ngoc Anh is determined to do her best to maintain her ideals. She said: "The idea of a precious book museum is still here, my friends and I are still focusing on the preparation step by step. We want to use technology to store valuable data, we cannot just apply traditional methods such as photography and printing, which takes a lot of effort and money.
The oldest bookstore on Dinh Le Street is also calling for a valuable amount of ancient books from individuals to be able to gather them into a collection for the museum of precious books in the future.
My mother has devoted her whole life to the Tao bookstore, my father - who loves her and also loves her interests - always supports me. Therefore, I will also devote all my heart to preserving and promoting what my mother left behind, Ms. Ngoc Anh added.
