When Witit Chanthamarit was a child, independent bookstores weren’t the rarity they are today. You didn’t have to wind your way through one of Bangkok’s labyrinthine malls to a sixth-floor Kinokuniya or a third-storey Asia Books. You could just step off the street into a cosy book-lined room and strike up a conversation with its owner, who would know their stock and be able to guide you to a book you might not even have known you were looking for. Communities would form around these shops; booksellers would remember their customers, their interests and their stories. But by the time Chanthamarit came back from university in Rangsit, this world was already gone.

When he opened the first physical location of Vacilando Bookshop, Chanthamarit hoped to recapture some of this sense of community. The idea came to him in 2017 during a month-long break from his job as a location scout for feature films and advertising shoots. His work had taken him around the country on a regular basis and had given him the opportunity to amass a considerable collection of rare photobooks from used bookstores he visited in the provinces. He began selling his stock online and his first face-to-face interaction with customers came months later at the 2017 Bangkok Art Book Fair. That experience made it clear to him: he wanted to be able to talk to his customers regularly, not just message them online or meet them once a year at a book fair. The establishment of a physical shop was inevitable.

• Tags: Ian Hollinger, Issue 36, Thailand, Witit Chanthamarit