Leading Singaporean bookstore chain Popular closes all 16 branches across Hong Kong
- Rapid fall in revenues over past one year amid anti-government protests and coronavirus outbreak forces company to ‘restructure’ its business plans
- Bookstore says it will continue with non-retail business in Hong Kong, with a focus on educational publishing, e-learning, and educational services
After more than 40 years of business in Hong Kong, Singapore’s bookstore chain Popular has closed all its 16 branches across the city amid a retail market slump, with critics warning of more closures amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A cultural critic also said the shutdown of Popular bookstores should serve as a wake-up call for other leading bookstore chains in Hong Kong to rethink their operation models, saying most of the city’s bookstores were old-fashioned and out of touch with Hongkongers’ pace of the pursuit of knowledge.
Publishing house the Commercial Press announced on Thursday its bookstores in Leung King, Tuen Mun, and Jordan would be shut down next month.
On Wednesday, Singapore-based Popular Holdings announced “restructuring” of its Hong Kong business by closing all its 16 bookstores, amid “the continuing downturn in the book retail market”.
“This is a very difficult decision. The retail book industry has been facing structural challenges in Hong Kong over the past decade. The deterioration in the last 12 months has led to a severe contraction in retail revenues,” a group spokesman said.
