WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT BOOKS KINOKUNIYA?

A guard stands at the entrance of Kino.
You mean people steal books? That's sad.

What would we do without Books Kinokuniya? This would be a rhetorical question if it were not so simple. Big physical bookstores are under threat in Singapore. Over the years, they have been closing, including the wonderful Borders at Wheelock Place, the old stalwarts like MPH (once proudly at Stamford Road), the many Times bookstores. Even Popular, famous for selling textbooks and assessment books, has been bought over. All we have are small indie bookstores and a single giant - Books Kinokuniya. 

Online sales and e-books have helped bring the bricks-and-mortar bookstore to a sad demise. Books Kinokuniya, with its three shops - Takashimaya Square, Raffles City and Bugis Junction - stands alone, but for how long? 

I never read e-magazines, only physical ones.

The aisles should be packed during
a public holiday, but not today.

Browsing is why we have physical bookstores, and nothing feels better than leafing through albums and magazines, and then buying them for a read, hopefully repeated at a later date. Sadly, I am also a Tsundoku, one who has more books than the time to read them. Yet, I persist. 

Visiting Kinokuniya at Orchard Road is a monthly ritual for me, mainly to buy magazines - on classical music (Gramophone, BBC Music, International Piano, Pianist), football (FourFourTwo), history (BBC History and various mooks or magazine books), current affairs (The Critic) and Mekong Review for Asian issues. Then I'll also buy one book - usually on history or world / regional topics.

Nobody beats Kino in Japanese literature,
translated into English.

When Kino has its 20% sale, usually during festive periods and National Day, I buy more, with the hope of reading the lot during weekends and late nights. The photos come from my latest visit, the public holiday Monday after National Day. I came by public transport and returned with a bundle of books. The next big sale will be just before Christmas, and I am already anticipating this.

Musical scores - not a lot to choose from.
The staff are always courteous and helpful.

So to answer the question. Life will be lots duller without Books Kinokuniya, but I'll have more time to cover those unread books.

Post-National Day, I did the patriotic thing
by buying the OG book on Singlish.
Why cannot, meh?