Books Kinokuniya to open new outlet at Raffles City in August

[SINGAPORE] Books Kinokuniya will open a new outlet at Raffles City Shopping Centre in August.

In a Facebook post on Apr 21, the bookstore chain announced the new store, which will span 3,433 sq ft on the third floor of the mall.

Tan Kay Ngee, 68, award-winning principal architect of Kay Ngee Tan Architects, who designed the first Books Kinokuniya’s flagship store at Ngee Ann City in 1999, told The Straits Times: “The new Kinokuniya store is conceived as a quiet discovery – designed not to shout, but to invite.”

It will feature a Blue Room at the heart of the shop. “It is a serene space dedicated to literature which evokes a quieter, more contemplative mood for immersive reading experiences.”

The space will reuse the iconic blue shelves from the flagship store, which is currently being reorganised.

In February, it was announced that the bookshop’s 38,000 sq ft space at Ngee Ann City would be reduced. A spokesperson for Books Kinokuniya said that despite the outlet’s smaller footprint, “our range of titles remains intact and we intend to expand and showcase a more varied merchandise mix”.

The main entrance of the flagship store reopened on Apr 7, although the rest of the store is still undergoing “significant changes”.

The spokesperson also confirmed that there would be no staff layoffs or manpower changes at the Takashimaya outlet.

The bookshop chain closed its outlets at Jem mall in Jurong in May 2022 and at Liang Court mall in Clarke Quay in Apr 2019. The closures reflect a shrinking books retail scene in recent years as various brands such as Times and Epigram Books closed physical outlets, squeezed by high rentals and thin profits.

When asked about Books Kinokuniya’s future plans in Singapore, the spokesperson said: “We would consider opening a new store if the right venue and price come together.” THE STRAITS TIMES