S2E1: Do We Still Need Physical Bookstores?
Summary Keywords
Independent bookstores, human connection, diverse voices, children's books, local literature, supply chain, online competition, community space, book launches, social media advertising, physical bookstores, reading culture, book curation, cultural capital, Singapore literature
00:05 Host, Loh Chin Ee
Picture this, you walk into a bookstore and the wall suddenly feels a little bigger, shelves stacked with stories, ideas and voices, from timeless classics to bold new perspectives, all waiting to be discovered. In a time when algorithms decide what we see and endless scrolling defines our days, bookstores stand as powerful spaces for human connection and imagination. Today, bookstores are more than just places to buy books. Independent bookstores in particular, carefully curate the books they sell, crafting collections that reflect the heart of their communities, celebrate diverse voices and champion stories that might otherwise go unheard. In Singapore, independent bookstores are as diverse as the city itself. Some focus on nurturing young readers with beautifully illustrated children's books, while others celebrate local literature, offering a platform for Singaporean authors to shine. Each of these independent bookstores brings to the table its own unique perspective, balancing the need to curate collections that reflect the owners' passions and cater to the diverse interests of their communities.
In this episode, we are diving into the evolving role of physical bookstores, how they are adapting to a changing world, why they still matter, and the magic they bring to our lives.
Chapter One: Opening a bookstore
Wardah Books is located in a conservation shop house at 58 Bussorah Street in the heart of Kampong Glam. Kampong means village in Malay, and the word Glam comes from the gelam tree, which was common in the area. Originally home to the Malay aristocracy, then designated by the British as Malay-Muslim quarters in 1822, kampong is now home to a mix of traditional and modern users. As you walk from the historic Istana Kampong Glam, now the Malay Heritage Center, towards the imposing Masjid Sultan, you will see shop houses built between the 1840s to 1960s. Among restaurants and shops selling perfumes, carpets and handicrafts, you will come upon water books in a stately white shop house.
I ask Ibrahim Tahir, Principal Bookseller at Wardah Books, why and how he started the bookstore.
02:36 Ibrahim Tahir
We started out as book distributors. For me and my wife, we were readers. This is like pre-Amazon. We found that a lot of the books that we were interested in was simply not available in Singapore, and we sort of knew that there was a demand, so we reached out to the publishers in the US and in the UK, and we said that we can be your agents here. We set up a company and we started distributing their books. So that's how we started.
We went from shop to shop. We went to Kinokuniya, we went to Borders, we went to Page One, we went to the independent bookshops, and we were showing these books to them, and they purchased the books from us, and we supplied. But we found that the books were not taking, the books were not being sold. We started out with Islamic books, and especially on Islamic spirituality, in English. We knew that there was a market, but they weren't selling in these bookshops. So there was a light bulb moment where we realised that maybe what is needed is not a distributor. What is needed is a book shop, because these books need their own space. You cannot have these books in a general bookstore, one shelf among so many other topics. It can work, but it won't do the job.
At the back of mind, we knew that we wanted to open a book shop, and then by pure serendipity, we walked into an antique shop, and he said, “there's a space next door to my shop, and it's available for rent now.” So the next day, I called up the landlord, and we signed the lease, not knowing what to do. So we were immediately thrust into book selling. We had this small space on northbridge road, and we brought in the stocks of books that we were distributing, and we started selling. And that's that was day one. And I remember quite distinctly on day one, I was with the paint brush painting the walls. I had the books in boxes. It was no sign. The electricity was not on yet, and some guy walks in and asked me, “what is this?” And I said, this is going to be a book shop. And he started opening my boxes and going through the books. Aha, this is interesting. So had my first customer as I was painting the wall. Then we knew that we on to something. But from the beginning, we always felt like a startup. It was very tentative. We didn't know how long this was going to be. I still kept my day job as an editor, and that idea of being very tentative or very short term lasted quite long. It was only probably around the time of COVID, or maybe before COVID, that we realised that this was something that was real.
05:34 Host, Loh Chin Ee
I asked Ibrahim why people would visit his bookstore rather than a larger chain located closer to their homes.
05:41 Ibrahim Tahir
We are a specialised book shop, and the books we curate mainly for a Muslim audience, literate Muslim audience in Singapore, and the space is curated for that. So that's the thing about smaller bookshops, there's this intimacy, and there is this feeling of a hyper idealised home. That's how I crafted all the books. When you come in, you see this huge sofa, and you see the down lights, and you see everywhere you turn, you see books. For a reader living in Singapore, this is the idealised home. This is what they want to come home to. But because our homes are so small and because they have competing things, not everyone can fill their home in bookshelves. So Wardah Books provides that kind of fantasy of what your ideal home would be, and we lean into that.
06:37 Host, Loh Chin Ee
To curate is to select, organise and present items in such a way that certain things are made visible through organisation and display. The act of curation is an essential component of book selling. It highlights what is worth reading and facilitates browsing. Sung Yuen Ling is a second-generation bookseller. Trained as an engineer, Yuen Ling left her job to return to a family business at Maha Yu Yi Chinese Bookstore at Bras Basah. After she had a child, she became more interested in children's books and realised there was a shortage of good Chinese books in Singapore, she then decided to open a children's bookstore.
07:18 Sung Yuen Ling
…And I noticed that the children's books in China were becoming more and more interesting. They have interesting content. They translated many books from America, Europe. So there was a wide variety, and they were very nice, and I felt that there was a shortage of good Chinese books in Singapore, so I decided to start a children's bookstore. So we opened a children's bookstore next to our adult's bookstore.
So when I first started, I went to China quite often, a few times a year. Because at that time, you can't really see the books online, so I'll go there, and then I will personally look at the books, select the books, books which I feel are appropriate for Singapore. Because in China, their language is much better than Singapore, meaning that books that are appropriate for, let's say, a 10-year-old in China may not be appropriate for a 10-year-old here in Singapore. So I'll look at the content and decide whether the content is appropriate for Singapore, and then I'll pick the books and order the books. I select by looking at the content, bringing books that I feel that my customers will be interested in. So for example, we have a very good collection of picture books. I believe we have the widest range of picture books in Singapore, we have probably a few 1000 titles right now. The content of the picture books are actually very varied, various topics and very interesting. And they're very funny. Some are very funny books, some are meaningful, touching books. So these are books which I don't see a lot in other bookstores in Singapore, and parents and teachers, sometimes they visit our bookstore for these picture books, or they will tell us what they need. For example, usually preschools, they have themes for certain terms. So they need certain themes, they come to us and say, “Hey, do you have books on certain themes?”, and then we will recommend accordingly for them.
08:58 Host, Loh Chin Ee
Chapter Two: The challenges of bookselling.
While the idea of being a bookstore owner or selling books may seem romantic, booksellers have to deal with the everyday challenges of running a bookstore and making a living, Ibrahim shares about his key challenges of logistics and online competition
09:20 Ibrahim Tahir
The first thing that is a challenge for me, which a lot of people don't expect, is supply chain. Because the way the network of booksellers and wholesalers and distributors and publishers, agents and publishers themselves, the way it's set up, is very organic, the way it grew over the centuries, really. There's a lot of inefficiencies within that which is a strength and also a weakness. Even with issues of freight and air freight and sea freight, there's a lot of uncertainty built in. Sometimes I don't know when a book will arrive, and this is a problem, especially now when people expect books to be available at launch date. I don't have that certainty, try as I might. And this is in contrast with Amazon, because Amazon has limitless resources, so they can have the book available even before launch. They can just compete with the price. The first thing is this issue of logistics that I grew up with on a daily basis. And the second issue is, of course, the competition with Amazon and the other online booksellers, especially the platform booksellers, the people who sell books, along with other things, really treat books as commodities. For example, Amazon can afford to heavily discount books in order to capture the market share of the customers. Very cynical way of doing business. What I feel is that Amazon has trained people how to purchase books. It's almost like a pedagogy of capitalism, or turbo-capitalism. In the case of Amazon, this translates to how people view smaller bookshops. Why can't we match their price, and why can't we be as quick as them, and why can't we fulfill as quick as them? I mean, that’s a trillion-dollar company, and we are small and independent. Those are two main issues, the logistics and how Amazon has disrupted not only the industry, but it has disrupted people's expectations of what they can expect to get from an independent book shop.
11:38 Host, Loh Chin Ee
Alex Chua is the co-founder of Book Bar, an independent bookstore that focuses on Singapore literature and books that feature the Asian heritage. Book bar opened in July 2023. Prior to opening book bar, Alex worked for four years at Epigram Bookstore. Book bar is conceptualised as a community space with an integrated cafe. Book clubs, launches and events are often held in Book Bar. Alex explains why the cafe is a necessary component of book bar, and shares about the community aspect of book bar.
12:12 Alex Chua
Well, for one thing, it's because if you just sell books, it's very difficult to survive because of rent, so the F&B side helps to cover some of the costs, and it helps with the events. When you do events, some people like to sit, drink, you know, all that sort of stuff, and create a different kind of experience than just a bookstore. Community was a very important thing. We didn't want to just be ya lah…it’s a bookshop, right? You come, you buy whatever. That's why I like to talk to customers, get to know them. Some of them don't come back, a lot of them who do come back, they remember me. So those kind of things, holding the events, like our Bookworm Banter, we have regulars who come back, people who form friend groups out of that event, you know, and all that. The other book launches, where friends of the author and all that come and find a place for the first time, then they come back again on their own. So we didn't just want to be a book shop just like that. We wanted to be a community space, a place where people can come and talk to other people as well.
13:15 Host, Loh Chin Ee
As a bookstore specialising in Singapore literature, Book Bar is also able to help authors and publishers make their offerings more visible in the public space.
13:24 Alex Chua
Being able to hold book launches for people, alternative space of holding book launches rather than the other bigger bookshops and all you know. And also for us, we try to help the local authors, right? So when I first opened, The Straits Times also did approach us to ask if we wanted to contribute to the best seller list. Traditionally, it had only been the big bookshops, right? So we said, “oh, yeah, sure, we are happy to contribute.” So now we help the local authors become Singapore bestsellers, right? You know, because when they hold their launch with us, usually they tend to sell well, right? Then it helps them be on par with the international authors in Singapore.
14:03 Host, Loh Chin Ee
Another challenge Alex faced was learning how to use social media for advertising.
14:08 Alex Chua
I don't think we're very good. The social media is run by us, and sometimes we are like, just trying to figure out things also, you know. I actually never even used Instagram before I open the place, so. I mean, it's a way for people to know what's happening, right? We have to advertise, right? You know that this week, this book launch is happening, that sort of stuff, or when Bookworm Vendor is happening, right? Not, how do you let people know, right? People don't come in every day to see, “oh, what's new and stuff,” right? So that's the easiest way for people to find out what's happening. Sometimes we do stories about this book newly in or like, we just posted one about how, if you buy this book, there's exclusive tote bag to go with it. But sometimes we try to post, like, less, I don't want to say less well known, but because usually it's the foreign books, right, that are the like, the Japanese, Korean books that are very big hits and stuff. But we do try to post, like, when the local ones also come out, some of them, you know, like, “oh, you know this authors, new book is out,” that kind of thing, yeah.
15:13 Host, Loh Chin Ee
Chapter Three: Do we still need physical bookstores?
If selling books is so fraught with challenges, why do these booksellers continue to persevere? A clear passion for books and a commitment to keeping the joy of reading alive comes across in my conversations with the booksellers. They highlight that the unique selling point of the bookstore is its physical space, which allows for browsing and discovery of new books. Just as importantly for independent bookstores, it’s the presence of the bookseller and their staff. They are expert readers who can recommend books to help make the start to a reading journey or the continuation to the reading journey much easier.
15:54 Sung Yuen Ling
I'm not very good at designing a physical layout of a place, but what I thought was important was to have a table and chairs for the kids to sit down, because we have this table, this corner where there's table and some chairs. Because usually what I'll do is this, I'll find out from the parent, “oh, what the child likes.” Then I'll pick out the books, which I feel that “hey, your child may like this.” I'll encourage the parent, what don’t you sit down and read to your kids, you know, and see whether they like the books. So you know, they'll do that and then say, “oh yeah, my kid likes this,” “she doesn't like that,” so we have this little cosy corner for them to sit down and perhaps read the first few pages, and then they think that, “yeah, that may work.” Parents or maybe somebody that likes books still love the idea of coming into a bookstore to browse the books. And I encourage parents to bring their kids to our bookstores as well, because I think when you see so many books, you feel, “wow so nice,” and then you're more inspired to pick up a book to read. So I think a physical bookstore will serve that purpose. So people that love books, I think they'll still like the idea of coming to a bookstore to browse, to walk among the books and select the book. I'm always happy when parents come back and tell me that, “oh, my kids enjoyed the books that you recommended. Can you recommend me more books?”
17:09 Host, Loh Chin Ee
The delight at having helped someone find the right book, or books, motivates Alex to keep doing what he does so well, talking to people about books and helping them find a match.
17:21 Alex Chua
So it's at Epigram where this guy came in and I talked to him, and then he was like “actually, I haven't read books for a long time,” and I said, “oh, it's okay. You just continue talking to him.” Then finally, after like half an hour of talking, he was like, “okay, I will just try this book that you mentioned.” So he bought two books. He said he's a very slow reader, and he was just there for one week. That was on a Monday. On Wednesday, he came back again. And he was like, I love the books, you know, do you have more to recommend? I was like, I thought you said you're a slow reader. He just finished two books in two days. And he said, Yeah, but I couldn't stop reading them. I gave him another two books. He came back on Friday. He said he finished them again. And he said, I'm flying back tonight. I just wanted to get two more to read on the flight back. After he wrote to my boss and said about how I made him fall in love with reading again. The I’m like “wow, okay lah, I feel very happy that I managed to impact someone's life that way, right? And there was another one where there's this book called ONE by Bubbly Books. It's about this girl who, real story about a girl who lost her leg to cancer. So I happened to talk to a customer, and they bought this book. One year later, this lady came in with her daughter and told me about how her friend had bought this book from me one year ago and gave it to her daughter, because her daughter had cancer. And I guess the book really helped the girl, because she would bring it around with her when she went to see her oncologist. The oncologist is the author's brother, and so the doctor got the sister to come in to sign the book for her. Then she came back one year later, the daughter was okay by then, and told me this story, then I was like, “wow, I'm glad the book helped your daughter through her cancer, you know, and all.” So, of course, that kind of thing is very memorable, you know, that it helped a young girl, she was 6 or 7 years old, to overcome something like that.
19:16 Host, Loh Chin Ee
I asked my interviewees for suggestions about what the government community and they themselves can do to support independent bookstores. Here's what shared Yuen Ling has to suggest.
19:25 Sung Yuen Ling
Bookstores will have to, besides providing personalised service, like giving recommendations, work with others, like, for instance, if my children's bookstore, maybe it has to work with some art shop, and then you have art activities in the bookstore. So they come in, oh, they can buy books, but they can have art activities or maybe something else, like pottery. So maybe they have to do something like that. So it's not just purely a bookstore, but you have books and something else. And maybe, you know, perhaps you know MRT stations, they can let bookstores do a pop-up every weekend, so that could be something and then maybe Your CDC voucher for supermarkets, maybe something that's special for books? Just to buy books. This will also promote reading among the youngsters.
20:08 Ibrahim Tahir
We need to come back to the purpose of bookshops, and we need to come back to the activism which is reading. So the first thing we need to re-identify is the centrality of the reader and the importance of bringing people back to reading there's not only important for bookshops, but important for the whole of our society. And then we also need to think about how we conceive of our businesses. We need to understand the importance of our physical spaces, because there's been a lot of push by the government to digitalise, and that's important. But there is no equal push to realise or to refurbish or to make the physical space better, because that is even more important than having a website. So there has been some movement in that we have Casual Poet, they've come up with an interesting model, and I expect there will be more models that explore different ways of book selling. So booksellers need to explore those things. And also it comes back to community, booksellers need to understand that they are part of a community, and they need to leverage on that community. They need to serve that community, and also because of the importance of space, they need to understand the importance of activation of place, making the impact they have in their own precincts, to leverage on the heritage within those precincts, because a lot of bookshops are located in heritage spaces, so you need to lean into that and make it part of your identity. And lastly, of course, is the system itself, how government sees bookshops, because if you were to compare us to any other sector, we probably don't contribute much in terms of revenue. But in terms of cultural capital, we punch way above our weight, and that needs to be recognised, while we do not need like grants to operate the business. If there isn't recognition of the cultural value of bookshops, then there should be understanding that perhaps our book events, perhaps our book clubs could be funded by an arts grant or something like that.
22:27 Host, Loh Chin Ee
I asked Alex if he thinks Singaporeans read.
22:31 Alex Chua
I think can grow. There's always room to grow. I don't think our reading percentage of our population is high, so there's always room to grow. There are a lot of tourists who are happy to buy local books, although, so that's good. I think parents nowadays are more open to buying kids’ books about Singapore. So that's also always good. I think it's more the working adults that there's room to grow for reading in Singapore, when we hold Bookworm Banter, you see these are all usually working adult-age people. Some of them really were like, “we want to get back into reading.” So we were like, “okay lah, let me sign up and see how it goes.” Then sometimes all it takes, right is you read one book and you're like, “oh yeah. This is why I enjoy reading, right?” Because I think a lot of us nowadays have gotten caught up in work, you know, life, all those things. And I think most people did enjoy reading when they were a kid, but then you lost it when you grew older. And sometimes, like I said, it just takes a good book.
23:38 Host, Loh Chin Ee
Bookstores are a necessity for a reading society. And back to our original question, do we still need physical bookstores? For me, the answer is a resounding yes. Physical bookstores signal our commitment to reading, offer spaces for respite and support community reading, whether through organisation of book launches, book clubs or other events. While we may still be able to order books online or read them electronically, these experiences cannot replace the magical experience of visiting a bookstore.
Thank you for listening to the How We Read podcast episode, Do we still need physical bookstores? In our next episode, we explore book clubs. We'll speak with Ibrahim and Alex again and visit Book Bar to experience a book club session for ourselves. This episode was written and hosted by me, Loh Chin Ee and my thanks goes to Ibrahim, Alex and Yuen Ling for sharing so candidly. This episode was produced by Kenn Delbridge of SPLiCE Studios. Administrative support was provided by Koh Yu Qun with Noorazleena Binte Shahri helping with the research and writing. Funding for series two was provided by the Singapore Book Council. Swipe on the cover art to see show notes with links and references. We're available on all major podcast apps. Please subscribe to be notified of new episodes and take a moment to give us a five star review. For more information, please visit lohchinee.com.