SHANGHAI, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Japanese bookstore chain Tsutaya has picked a century-old building in Shanghai as the site of its new branch which is planned to open this year.
According to the bureau of culture and tourism of Changning District, Tsutaya's new store will settle in the Columbia Circle in Changning.
The Columbia Circle is a redeveloped culture park with preserved old mansion-compound, industrial buildings and an outdoor swimming pool, widely known for the Columbia Country Club in the 1920s.
With its flagship store in Daikanyama in Tokyo named one of the 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world by culture website Falvorwire, Tsutaya will compete with many renowned Chinese brick-and-mortar bookshops such as CITIC Books and Sisyphe Bookstore, mostly designed by famous architects.
Tsutaya now runs more than 1,400 bookstores in Japan and has a 3,000-square-meter branch previously settled in Hangzhou, capital of eastern China's Zhejiang Province, which will open within the year.
