Major bookstore closures over the last 5 years

Bookstore chain Kinokuniya shutters its 7,800 sq ft store at Jem mall in Jurong, mainly due to rent issues.

Huggs-Epigram Coffee Bookshop closed last August before reopening at its original location at URA Centre in Maxwell Road in January this year for less than a month, and then shuttering again temporarily. Epigram Bookshop has since opened a new store at the Singapore Art Museum in Tanjong Pagar Distripark.

Independent bookshop The Moon closes its bricks-and-mortar store in Chinatown, scaling back to a pop-up and online model.

BooksActually shuts its iconic Tiong Bahru store and goes fully online. Its Web store is run from a shophouse in Jalan Besar.

Times Bookstores' outlet at The Centrepoint closes, the fifth bookstore to shutter since April that year.

Malaysian chain MPH announces it is closing its two remaining outlets at Raffles City and Parkway Parade, although it has since opened a new outlet at SingPost Centre near Paya Lebar MRT station.

Popular closes one of the chain's oldest stores at Thomson Plaza after 31 years.

Kinokuniya's outlet in Liang Court, the chain's first in an Asian country outside Japan, shuts after 36 years, ahead of the mall's redevelopment.

Independent bookstore Booktique closes its store at CityLink Mall. The shop was well known for its minimalist wooden crate furniture, niche selection and diverse events, ranging from migrant worker poetry readings to violin recitals.