The tale of the Dutch bookstore, the pivot and the Golden Pin

Bookstore Dominicanen can be found in a former Dominican church in the city of Maastricht, a thriving cultural hub and one of the oldest cities in The Netherlands. Before COVID, the bookstore welcomed almost one million visitors a year. They mostly relied on customers visiting in person to shop for a good read or to enjoy a coffee while admiring the store’s vault paintings and the unique 14th century fresco depicting scenes from Thomas Aquinas’ life. And then the pandemic hit.   The Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on businesses worldwide but it also sparked creativity and accelerated many businesses’ use of digital tools. In The Netherlands for example, 81% of Dutch SMEs made more use of digital…