Tran Dai Thang spotted two young people who had picked up their drinks at a pop-up cafe beside his travelling bookstore and were about to leave, so he called them over.
One of them said they did not read books, Thang recalled. But he kept the conversation going and eventually persuaded the visitor to buy a book for 10,000 dong (US$0.40) – heavily discounted from its original price of 45,000 dong.
For Thang, an artist and publisher, the small sale mattered far less than the fact that someone who said they did not read had chosen to pick up a book.
“Who knows, it might be the start of a new habit,” he said.