A trip to Books Kinokuniya’s flagship store, in Takashimaya Shopping Centre, will soon be a rather different experience.
The popular Japanese bookstore is set to downsize, with the vacated space being taken over by a new cafe, among others, as reported by The Straits Times (ST) on Tuesday (Feb 18).
At the time of writing, Books Kinokuniya has not released a statement on its social media channels regarding the details of its downsizing.
While it is unclear exactly how substantial the downsizing operations will be, customers have noticed that some shelves within the 38,000 sq ft store were already emptied.
One customer took to TikTok on Feb 16 upon seeing the empty shelves at the flagship store.
@candidcuisine my heart dropped 💔 jk kinokuniya is just reshelving 😉 #singapore #tiktoksg ♬ original sound – 𝐂𝚮𝚨𝐑⚡︎
Shelves dedicated to numerous topics such as religion, local culture, fantasy and science fiction were barren, devoid of any books.
“Why did this feel like the end of the world?” they asked.
Over on Reddit, a number of bibliophiles seemed to have similar views, many disappointed at the thought of the iconic store’s downsizing.
A user lamented that they were “so upset by this”.
Another wrote: “Hope they are able to sustain themselves longer with the downsizing, I still get most of my books from them.”
One netizen mentioned that the current store is already downsized, relating to the 42,000 sq ft space it held from 1999 to 2013, noting that some industries are simply “fading away”.
@kinokuniya_singapore This is friendly PSA in case any of you guys have problems locating the books you want at our main store! we’re doing some shifting and relocating a bunch of books to new shelves so they may be hard to find on your own, pls don’t hesitate to ask our staff for help finding your books! #kinokuniya #kinokuniyasg #booktok #books #bookshop #bookstore ♬ eredeti hang – Griffins4U – Griffins4U
While members of the public were dismayed at the thought of a nostalgic outlet downsizing, Books Kinokinuya released a public service announcement via their official TikTok page on Jan 22, as a reassurance that business will continue as usual.
The caption read: “We’re doing some shifting and relocating a bunch of books to new shelves so they may be hard to find on your own.”
What next?
As reported by ST, landlord Toshin Development assured the public that Books Kinokuniya “remains a key anchor tenant”.
The store will look to “refine its book collection while incorporating a lifestyle element”.
AsiaOne has reached out to Books Kinokuniya for more information.
Books Kinokuniya’s flagship store in Singapore opened in August 1999 and currently has two other outlets, in Bugis Junction and Raffles City.
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amierul@asiaone.com
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