Le Huynh Tri, owner of an old book shop in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo credit: Zing
In the era of digital content, it is unusual to see old books that are destined for recycling drawing much attention from the public.
But it is happening in Ho Chi Minh City, where lots of people have been rushing to a little bookstore in the suburban district of Thu Duc in a hope to “rescue” 10 tons of old books before they are sold to some scrap dealers.
They took on the mission after a photo of the shop’s signboard saying “Store closing sale” was posted on Facebook about 10 days ago and has since gone viral on the Internet.
Le Huynh Tri, the 66-year-old owner, said he had to sell all the books he had been collecting over the past 30 years at dirt cheap prices and his landlord wanted to terminate the lease to make way for the construction of a new bank.
He said he started the business decades ago out of his love for books. Over the years he has had to move his business for many times, before settling down in Thu Duc nearly three years ago.
Tri said he did not think he could move the shop one more time, because the moving is “very difficult” with lots of books and he is old.
“If I can’t sell out all the books to readers, I have no choice but to sell them to scrap traders,” he said.
Đăng ký: VietNam News