【專訪】新加坡獨立書店 Cat Socrates 以書和貓擁抱生活和自己

CULTUREPEOPLE

【專訪】新加坡獨立書店 Cat Socrates 以書和貓擁抱生活和自己

#HFASKS
如果你能開一家書店，它會是什麼模樣？

說起書店，大家大概會馬上想起整齊排列的書、分門別類的書架、紙張獨有的氣味、站著看書的人們，以及各種文具精品……這間位於新加坡的書店 Cat Socrates 決意打破這種「書店」的既定印象，從唱片到各種新奇有趣的文具，從小說、雜誌，甚至廚具、單車、自製果醬，你都可以在這間小店找到，店裡更有貓店主坐陣！這天，我們遇見了Cat Socrates創辦人Hellen，看看這間特別的書店背後故事，以及「書」之於她的意義。

經營一間書店聽起來很輕鬆，甚至很浪漫，但就跟經營其他小型企業一樣，書店也有著無數繁瑣的事務，你的私人生活會被之吞噬，不過最終你可能不會討厭這種生活。

－Hellen，新加坡獨立書店Cat Socrates創辦人

Hellen於2008年創辦了新加坡小店Cat Socrates，位於新加坡中心地帶的一幢大廈；有趣的是，該大廈又有「書城」（“Book Town”）之稱，本身也是許多書店和唱片店的落腳店，文化氣色濃厚。最初，書店主要售賣書本和唱片；在經營的11年間，Hellen逐漸為小店增加不同產品，如今有著兩間分店，更分別有兩位貓店主看家，令Cat Socrates不再只是書店，而是一處令生活變得更好的地方。

歡迎來到Cat Socrates！

HF：HOKK fabrica｜H：Hellen

HF：你可以用三個詞語或是一句句子去形容Cat Socrates的風格嗎？
Can you use 3 words, a phase or a sentence to describe the style of your bookstore?

H：是一些收藏品，讓日常生活變得更容易忍受，或是說變得更好。
It’s a collection of things which I feel will make daily life feels more endurable, or say – better.

HF：你是按甚麼標準選擇藏書？你在書本裡想要找到甚麼？
How do you select what books or titles to stock in your bookstore? What do you look for in books?

H：我們的藏書都很生活化，除了旅遊指南，還有食譜和一些技能書，例如關於園藝、養寵物的，而「自助讀物」（“self-help”）更是十分重要的一部分。
Our collection of book is more to the lifestyle category, besides travel guide, cookbook and books about hobbies like gardening or pet caring, a very important part is “self-help”,

與普通書店裡輕易找到的一般自助讀物不同，我們這方面的藏書更為深入，從「真正認識自己」、學會從創傷中復元到認識情緖智力及相關知識皆有涉獵。
But unlike the regular self-help books you usually found in general book stores, our collection digs deeper. It’s from ‘to really know yourself’, to learn to be resilient, to acquire the knowledge of emotional intelligence.

儘管我們不會經常和伴侶、朋友說起，但其實我們每個人都會有迷惘、困惑、破碎的時刻，然而學校從來都沒有教我們如何真正面對這些難過的時候，也無法在別人身上找到答案。也許你可以在我們的藏書中找到答案，或是至少得到一些慰藉。
I think although we are not usually talking about it even with partner or close friends, everybody is a bit lost, confused and feeling some kind of broken in our life, we never really learned about how to deal with it in school, and probably hard to find the answers from other people. You may be able to find some answer or at least some comfort here in our collection of books.

HF：哪一本書或是哪一句書中的句子對你影響深遠？
Can you share an important book or quotes from book that has made a lasting impact on you?

H：「事情不一定要完美，我們都是非常適合『足夠好』的生物。」我甚至將這句話製成霓虹燈管，放在店面呢。這句話其實是來自一組名為Resilience的卡牌。
I think that must be below quote which I actually made it into a neon light sign in our shop front: Things don’t need to be perfect, we are creatures eminently suited to ‘good enough’. It’s actually from a set of cards call “resilience”.

與眾不同，只因想自己和前來的人有更好體驗

HF：你的店分別有兩隻貓──Zoo-Zoo 和 Chestnut。為什麼你會在店裡養貓？
There’re two cats, Zoo-Zoo and Chestnut, in your shops. Why would you keep them in your shops?

H：我們都是「貓癡」，員工們都很喜歡貓，能夠和貓兒一起工作實在太幸福了。我們自己都有養貓，不過貓兒的誘惑難以拒絕！
We are all huge cat lovers, all our staffs are crazy about cats, for us, working with cats are blessing in life. Although most of us have our own cats at home, but we just couldn’t resist to have more!

HF：你的店裡有個“Singapore Corner” ，可以介紹一下嗎？
There’s a “Singapore Corner” in your shops. Could you share with us the rationale between the setting?

H：新加坡是個旅遊城市，實際上每天都有很多遊客參觀我們的店，他們都想在買到有趣又有意義的紀念品好記住這場旅行。我們這裡沒有一般的魚尾獅匙圈和「我愛新加坡」水杯這些普通的紀念品，卻有著數個新加坡本地品牌的設計，產品都由本地最出色的平面設計師創作而成。經營這書店最好的事，就是聽到世界各地的遊客都十分喜歡我們的店（和我們的貓）
Singapore is a tourism city, actually a lots of tourists visit our shops every day, everybody wants to get meaningful and interesting souvenirs to memorize the trip, unlike the regular tourism products like Merlion keychain or ‘I Love Singapore’ Mug, we housed several Singapore local brands which bringing us a lots of beautifully designed products by some of Singapore best graphic designers. One of the best things running the shops is to hear people from all over the world saying how much their love our shop (and our store cats).

在城市經營獨立書店的危與機

HF：你如何看待你所身處的城市中的書店風貌？
What do you think about the bookstore scene in the city you live in?

H：在這個經濟利益導向的城市裡，我覺得還好。比起其他城市，我們的市場規劃很小，很難生存，不過仍有許多書店依然存活。也許大企業正逐漸遠離「賣書」這回事，但獨立書店仍在堅持。
I feel it’s still not too bad for this very economic benefit oriented city, our market is considerably small compare to other city which make it harder to manage, but there are still lots of book stores surviving, maybe the big companies are pulling away from really retailing books, but independent bookstores are still hold fast to it.

HF：在你身處的城市裡經營獨立書店有甚麼挑戰呢？
What are some of the challenges running an independent bookstore in the city you live in?

H：那應該是高昂的間接成本（overhead cost）和人工成本。要是我以大企業的經營方式來營運書店的話，我就得僱用很多員工來處理業務；為了省下那些成本，我要親身處理很多繁重的事情。我們的員工都是女生，而我在她們當中是最強壯的了，所以每次有沉重的箱子要搬的時候她們都會找我。
I think it’s the high overhead cost and labor cost, it will be hard to survive if I operate business like those big companies, hiring labor for most of the things. In order to cut those costs, I have to personally do a lots of heavy works, as the most muscular strong person among all the staffs (we are all girls), I’m the one they will call every time we have heavy boxes to lift.

HF：你可以和想要經營書店的人分享一個建議嗎？
What is the one thing that you’d say to someone who wish to open a bookstore?

H：經營一間書店聽起來很輕鬆，甚至很浪漫，但就跟經營其他小型企業一樣，書店也有著無數繁瑣的事務，你的私人生活會被之吞噬，不過最終你可能不會討厭這種生活。
To run a bookstore might sounds laid back and even romantic, but like running any other kind of small business, there are same endless tedious work, personal life gets eaten away fully, but at the end you might be less likely to hate it.

珍惜美好的當下

HF：請和我們分享你在書店裡最喜歡的時刻。
Can you share some of your favorite bookstore memories?

H：所有的時刻都很美好。自小時候起我便喜歡到書店，這總會令我很高興，更重要的是，我感到很平靜。
Actually all the bookstore memories are good memories, I like go to bookstores since young, it always brings me joy, and more important, peaceful feeling.

HF：想對20年後的自己說甚麼？
What would you say to yourself 20 years later?

H：我還沒有想到這麼遠。有時候，展望將來反而會令我們焦慮、緊張，更重要的是珍惜現在，好好享受、活在當下。
I don’t have any vision yet, sometimes it just brings us anxiety to look away in the future, I think more important is to be present, to enjoy the moment right now.

BOOK LIST
from
新加坡獨立書店Cat Socrates創辦人Hellen