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.
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.
Many of them squatted on the floor and sorted through stacks of discount books, some of which had been marked down by as much as 90 per cent from original prices. Some of the sharpest discounts were on the chunky design tomes that distinguished Page One from other bookshops.
Design professionals and students filled the store yesterday, waiting in queues of dozens to pay for their purchases.
Addy Wong, a retired interior designer, selected a book on interior design and another on the architecture of resorts.
"Only professionals would buy the big design books. Homeowners usually just stand there and read," he recalled.
With more information available online, even professionals forgo books for the internet, Wong said. Victoria Dong, a first-year architecture student at the University of Hong Kong, had five books in her lap. But she said she usually relied on the internet.
"The books were too pricey," she explained.
Designer Ray Wong, however, said he would continue to buy books. He spent two hours browsing before picking out seven books on interior and fashion design, which cost less than HK$1,000 in total after the discounts.
Hong Kong's largest English-language bookseller, Dymocks, closed its IFC outlet last month. The Australian company also announced the end of its 15-year local presence, leaving the remaining outlets to operate independently.
"It's something more than soaring rents," Pang said, criticising the government for not promoting reading or culture overseas. "Hong Kong is no longer an 'international city'."
