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Photos: Chinese bookstores in the San Gabriel Valley evolve

To make her business a success, Helen Duong, owner of Beijing Books in Alhambra, teaches English and Chinese, hosts calligraphy and art lessons and offers free classes on how to pass the citizenship test in a classroom space she created in the back of the store.

To make her business a success, Helen Duong, owner of Beijing Books in Alhambra, teaches English and Chinese, hosts calligraphy and art lessons and offers free classes on how to pass the citizenship test in a classroom space she created in the back of the store.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Internet competition has forced bookstores across the nation to close, but in the San Gabriel Valley, they’ve evolved. Chinese bookstores ship packages, repair laptops, supply lottery tickets. One bookstore became a classroom, another a convenience store.

Beyond books

Shu Chao Lee and Fan Wei Meng sit and read, at right, as another customer goes through Chinese-language newspapers at Beijing Books in Alhambra.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Homework help

Helen Duong, owner of Beijing Books, goes over homework with Fang Yan Ming, center, and Ci Shu Ming.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Cultural crafts

Crafts are for sale at Beijing Books in Alhambra.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Whatever they need

“A bookstore, you can do anything with it,” says Helen Duong, owner of Beijing Books in Alhambra. “It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s something people need.”  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

A place to learn

Ray Lew, right, works with Ci Shu Ming on a lesson at Beijing Books.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Newspaper selection

A customer named Pan looks through newspapers at Beijing Books in Alhambra.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Household goods

Rebecca Zhang displays one of the products she sells -- a pink mop -- at her bookstore, World Books.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

A range of goods

Some of the merchandise at Rebecca Zhang’s bookstore, World Books.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

And books? Well ...

“If you want to sell books these days, you’re doomed,” says Rebecca Zhang, who owns World Books.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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