Dorbeetle Store, Hangzhou: born from a need to read with friends

From foreign magazines brought back from trips abroad to a physical store in Hangzhou: Tony Lee’s Dorbeetle Store works as a platform for independent publishing, minority voices and printed culture

The start of Dorbeetle Store

Dorbeetle Store was founded in 2018 by Tony Lee in Hangzhou. Its beginnings, Lee recalls, were unassuming. “The beginning of the store was humble in both size and effort. That is how I would describe it. We had a variety of magazines for sale, but compared to what we offer now — mainly foreign titles — they were few in number.”

Since then, Dorbeetle has shifted in scale, function and audience. What started as a small project rooted in Lee’s personal passion for printed matter has grown into a reference point for international independent magazines in Hangzhou. Unlike bookshops built around broad literary retail, Dorbeetle has defined itself through curation. Its work goes beyond selling magazines: it introduces voices, formats and editorial practices that would otherwise remain out of reach for local readers.

The store rests on a straightforward premise: printed matter can widen a reader’s frame of reference. A magazine is not merely an object to collect. It is a way into another cultural system, another visual language, another political or social perspective.

Dorbeetle: expanding the local readership

Lee describes Dorbeetle’s philosophy as a form of mediation between international publishing and readers in Hangzhou. “We insist on having a curated selection of reads. Periodicals, monthly publications and independent zines fill our shelves. The edge we have at Dorbeetle, however, is our commitment to bringing voices from the West to local readers.”

This approach shaped the store’s identity. Dorbeetle became a stockist for international independent publications including Cereal, Kinfolk, Pleasure Garden and Lampoon. The selection is managed by Lee alongside Noah, his partner and colleague. Their work draws on research, but also on the habits of readers who approach magazines as objects of knowledge rather than lifestyle accessories.

Lee’s interest in foreign publications predates the store itself. Before opening Dorbeetle, he worked as an investment advisor. During those years, he gathered books and magazines from abroad — fashion, art and lifestyle titles that were hard to find in China. The gap in the local market eventually became the seed of an idea. What was missing could become a space.

A magazine store in China: from private exchange to public space

For Lee, foreign magazines first arrived through travel. On holidays abroad, he would seek out niche publications and carry them back to China — souvenirs of a kind, but also material for conversation. Back home, he and his friends would pass them around.

“It was a hobby of ours. We talked about the content of the magazines and books, and once we were done with one, we would swap it between ourselves. It was a good way to learn new things while strengthening our relationships.”

That private ritual lies close to the origin of Dorbeetle. Reading was not a solitary act. It was social. The store translated that habit into a public setting, where international magazines, Western art books and independent titles could circulate beyond a small circle of friends.

Dorbeetle did not begin as a conventional bookstore. Its earliest form was Dorbeetle Studio, a creative design studio that produced objects and offered creative direction. The project sold phone cases, notebooks and tote bags online. The model did not hold up. Lee and Noah then refocused the project around what had always felt more natural: magazines, books and the culture of printed matter.

“Still wanting to keep the business going, we closed Dorbeetle Studio and founded Dorbeetle Store. It was exciting. We allowed ourselves to find real joy in turning a hobby into a livelihood.”

In 2021, during the pandemic, Dorbeetle opened a physical space. From there, the store expanded its catalogue to hundreds of magazines and books by international creators, publishers and independent editorial projects. Lee describes it almost as a library: a place where every reader should be able to find something suited to their interests.

Dorbeetle: the meaning behind the name

The name Dorbeetle is not immediately transparent. Its Chinese equivalent, Lee explains, is Dadou — a term linked to a beetle native to Southeast Asia. The insect’s visual quality caught his attention before the store had fully taken shape, and its form became woven into the project’s image.

The name was not chosen for conventional commercial reasons. It emerged from an aesthetic impression and gradually became attached to the business. Only later did Lee and Noah discover that Hangzhou had a street with a similar name.

“Our customers tend to associate the store with Dadou Road. The coincidence was hilarious — and the irony is that we are not even that far from it.”

The name retains a degree of ambiguity. It does not describe the store. It builds a visual and symbolic field around it. For a magazine shop rooted in independent publishing, that resistance to easy legibility becomes part of the identity.

Titles and genres: Dorbeetle’s editorial selection

Dorbeetle’s catalogue spans art, design, fashion, photography, architecture and culture. Lee does not treat those as fixed categories. They are working tools. The selection shifts with availability, reader demand and the ongoing development of independent publishing.

Over time, Dorbeetle has also extended its reach into work centred on minority experiences and produced by minority voices — publications by LGBTQIA+ creators, experimental projects, independent zines, architectural research, typological studies and sociological writing.

“We want our readers to know that we are not only diverse, but that we intend to cultivate a more diverse society through the magazines and books we sell.”

This is one of the defining qualities of Dorbeetle’s identity. The store does not treat diversity as a slogan. It treats it as a curatorial method. The shelf becomes a visible argument: which subjects are included, which bodies are represented, which geographies are translated, which communities are given space to speak through print.

Magazines as functional objects at Dorbeetle

The physical space was designed by Future Space, an interior design studio connected to Lee’s circle. The store opened before every detail of the interior was finished — and that incompleteness became part of its character.

The display system is functional. Books and magazines sit on square, movable shelves. Vintage objects appear alongside the publications. The store shares its environment with other small businesses, including a flower boutique run by one of Lee’s peers. That proximity reinforces the informal quality of the place: Dorbeetle is a magazine store, but also a gathering room, a retail experiment and a cultural meeting point.

Lee remains closely involved in the selection process. Customer recommendations feed into the store’s logic as well. The catalogue is not fixed. It grows through supply, conversation, discovery and the needs of readers looking for material they cannot easily find elsewhere.

Dorbeetle’s role is not purely commercial. It brings international independent publishing into a local context and builds a community around reading. Its origins remain visible: a group of friends exchanging magazines, using print as a way to learn, talk and stay close.Dorbeetle Store is located in Gongshu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Founded by Tony Lee in 2018, the store brings international independent publications, art books, zines and cultural magazines to readers across China.