Crowds find deals as Hong Kong's Page One bookshop closes Times Square location

Page One bookshop in Causeway Bay's Times Square mall looked like it had been hit by an earthquake - many shelves were empty, and what few books remained were scattered in heaps on the floor.

But the chaos did not deter bookworms and designers from visiting the shop, which opened 18 years ago, one last time on its final day of operation yesterday.

Page One is one of several tenants forced to leave to make way for renovation on Times Square's ninth floor, the mall's spokesman said. New shops will open in the second or third quarter of the year, but the spokesman would not name them.

"We are still in negotiation with Page One about future opportunities," he added.

The bookseller still has shops in Kowloon Tong, Tsim Sha Tsui and the airport. But the closure of its Causeway Bay branch signaled wider difficulty for English-language bookshops, publisher Jimmy Pang Chi-ming said.

"Hong Kong people read few books. They read fewer English books, and even fewer hard-cover collectables," he said.

But at Page One yesterday, there was no shortage of buyers.