Hong Kong airport cuts back on bookshops: Page One out, new mainland-based operator takes over
A Beijing friendly chain moves in to replace the Singaporean and French operators at Hong Kong International airport
Hong Kong International Airport is cutting back sharply on the number of bookshops for departing passengers and replacing all Page One stores with new outlets run by a mainland-based firm.
The overhaul includes the replacement with high-end fashion stores of the airport’s two biggest bookshops in the departure area – once popular with mainland travellers buying books and magazines banned across the border.
At a time of major controversy over Hong Kong’s banned-book trade, the number of airport bookshops is being reduced from 16 to 10, and four remaining shops moved, mostly to smaller sites positioned near departure gates.
The two biggest bookshops – the 250 sq m Relay and Page One stores in prime positions near gates 20 and 21 in departures at Terminal One – are being replaced by luxury fashion stores MCM and Hermes respectively.
Airport book shops became a haven for all these controversial books about Beijing government officials and their sex lives and how they made their way [to power] through corruption
Singapore-based chain Page One has lost all six of its airport bookshops while French-owned Relay, which has been doing business at the airport for 11 years, has had its number of outlets cut from 10 to five.
