Book town in the east

It seems an unlikely location for a bookstore: a sleek apartment and office complex in the heart of Joo Chiat. But dial 0302 on the intercom, take the lift up to level three and you will find yourself in City Book Room's cosy new home.

The Chinese bookstore opened last Thursday after bidding farewell to North Bridge Centre, where it was at for six years.

The increasing rent was one of the reasons for the move. Another was serendipity. Last October, founder Tan Waln Ching and her husband Paul Kam found themselves in Joo Chiat - and took to its young vibe and heritage charm.

"It seemed like a neighbourhood with a lot of possibilities," says Ms Tan, 39, in Mandarin.

Mr Kam's interior design firm City Box Design, which shares a space with the bookstore, ended up buying a 370 sq ft unit in The Modules.

Their monthly mortgage is now 30 per cent less than what their rent used to be, Ms Tan adds.

City Book Room joins a number of bookstores - Sea Breeze Books, PinkPonk Comics and Comic Grail Vault - that have opened in the area in recent years, drawn to its rich history and cheaper rent.

Eunos resident Anna Lim, 29, is glad to have more bookstores close to home. "Previously, I'd have to go to the city area for books. Now, there are bookstores a 15-minute bus ride away," she says.

Ms Lim, who works in the tourism sector, adds: "The east is not just about food now, it's not just about Peranakan culture. This adds to the flavour of the east side."

City Book Room's new space houses more than 10,000 Chinese-language titles from Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere - as well as a selection of books in English and other languages.

Since space is limited, having a well-curated collection is vital.

"Our philosophy is 'small and special'," Ms Tan says. "We select the best books, niche books, for our readers, books we feel are worth recommending. We also have second-hand and out-of-print titles."

On the front desk, there is a photo of Ms Tan and the late Cultural Medallion recipient and author Yeng Pway Ngon, who mentored her when she worked at the bookshop he founded, Grassroots Book Room.

In 2014, she left and started City Book Room as a publisher from her home, beginning with a reissue of a 2006 novel by Yeng.

Two years later, she set up shop at North Bridge Centre.

Today, City Book Room's most popular titles are Singapore novels, particularly those by Yeng, as well as English non-fiction books.

Its publishing arm has several titles in the pipeline, including a Chinese translation of Alfian Sa'at's short story collection Corridor (1999).

The store also plans to host events such as storytelling sessions, book launches and talks - such as one on June 26 by food historian Khir Johari.

One big challenge, Ms Tan says, is that while the costs of printing and shipping are going up, it is not getting more readers. She is the shop's only employee and has not drawn a salary since it opened.

The store almost broke even before Covid-19, but the pandemic halved its income in 2020, though things have improved slightly since.

Still, "as the Chinese scene gets smaller, there's a sense we are all supporting one another", she adds.

About 1km west of City Book Room is another Chinese bookstore - Sea Breeze Books, which opened on the second storey of a shophouse in Tanjong Katong Road last year.

Co-founder Ang Lai Sheng, 34, says it did not want to open in the Civic District because there were already many bookstores there.

"We wanted something a bit more neighbourhood, a bit more hip. We looked long and hard, and thought, this is a nice place. There's good food nearby and it has a long history."

The 400 sq ft bookstore is the retail arm of TrendLit Publishing, whose 750 sq ft office adjoins it.

Mr Ang says second-storey bookstores are a common phenomenon in Hong Kong. "Rent is very high there, so being on level two helps a lot. If people know you and they like you, by word of mouth, they will come to you."

Sea Breeze Books has a Web store and is active on Instagram. Some people - most of its customers are aged 30 to 45 - send them messages via WhatsApp and Instagram to order books.

Its titles - from Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan - range from literature, philosophy and design to boys' love novels.

Mr Ang says: "Some topics might be a bit controversial, especially to the older Chinese crowd. But everyone else is doing mainstream, so why should we?"

TrendLit Publishing's Chinese-language books are printed in traditional script, which it believes will help it break into the Chinese market via Taiwan and Hong Kong.

It is ramping up its efforts to translate books between English and Chinese, with upcoming titles such as an English version of Wang Mun Kiat's 2021 book Duan She, translated by Daryl Lim; and a Chinese translation of Alvin Pang's poems by poet Peter Chow and Ang himself. It will also publish original English works.

While people in other countries might see Singapore as a cultural desert, Mr Ang begs to differ. "If we are able to introduce local content to them at a higher frequency, they may start to take notice of us."

In 2014, Mr George Chuang started selling comics online. Fast-forward to the present and PinkPonk Comics now has a standalone unit in the basement of Katong Plaza.

It sells thousands of titles by Marvel Comics, DC Comics and independent publishers, as well as rarer items such as mini comics from 1960s cereal boxes.

Customers can pull out a stool at the counter and buy a drink. There are also boxes rented by comics collectors who use the space to sell their items without a sales commission.

The store, whose co-owners are Rajesh Dhanani and Eric Chong, co-creator of the Mr Kiasu comic series, had existed as a smaller standalone unit in the basement from 2019, before moving into the current one a year later.

Mr Chuang, 48, says that when the car-leasing business he was working at took a hit during Covid-19, he decided to turn his hobby into a full-time job.

He adds that Katong was a sound choice because rent was cheaper than the Central Business District and the colourful neighbourhood brings back memories.

"It was our Orchard Road when we were younger. We brought our dates here.

"For comic fans, there are even more memories here, because there were a couple of very popular outlets," he adds, with a nod to the now-defunct Comicsnaut.

One old-timer in the area, the decades-old Silver Kris stall in the hawker centre at 84 Marine Parade Central, is still run today by comic-book seller Low Wee Khoon, who is in his late 80s. Comics such as Spider-Man and The Avengers, housed in clear plastic pockets, hang from hooks. "Three for $10," he says.

Another new kid on the Katong block is Comic Grail Vault, which opened a physical store in Roxy Square II in April.

Its founder, fashion and commercial stylist Randolph Tan, 30, focused more on selling comics after the pandemic hit - hosting Facebook live streams from his bedroom and increasing his inventory of titles. His brother, a former air crew member, came on board as co-founder.

They fondly remember visiting a comic book store that used to be at Roxy Square.

"We saw there was space available in the Roxy area and we thought, why not, let's do this out of nostalgia," says Mr Tan, whose store ran a signing event for Free Comic Book Day last month.

With the Thomson-East Coast MRT line scheduled to be completed in a few years' time, Katong and Joo Chiat will become even more accessible, although Mr Chuang worries about rent going up.

Sea Breeze's Mr Ang has a good feeling about the neighbourhood. The now-defunct Oasis Book Store - a Chinese bookshop founded in the 1960s - used to be at almost the same address as Sea Breeze today.

"We are carrying on the tradition," Mr Ang adds in Mandarin. "It is a kind of serendipity, a kind of fate."