Reading goes out of fashion in Hong Kong in the internet age, or has it?
Hongkongers are now reading less and high rents are hurting bookstores, but some are surviving by diversifying into unrelated products like party supplies
A forlorn feeling hangs in the air even though there are long queues of customers eager to grab a bargain inside a shabby warehouse at an obscure Kwai Chung industrial building stocked with books and merchandise from the recently closed bookstore chain Page One.
The room is filled with thousands of books, some piled ceiling-high and others stacked up like architectural columns, while many are placed haphazardly along the walls.
The bookstore’s closing-down sale started at the warehouse on December 12 with at least 40 per cent discounts offered across the board.
The chain is known for selling high-end art and architecture books and magazines.
While delighted customers have been eagerly snapping up bargains, it is in no way a true reflection of the city’s actual reading culture. In reality, a rapid deterioration in the book-reading habits of Hongkongers is posing a serious threat to other brick-and-mortar bookshops, whose owners have long been struggling with high rents and fighting for survival as online book sales boom.