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South China Morning Post

How Mirchandani family went from poverty to major players in Hong Kong book industry

MY FIRST MEMORY of Hong Kong is not even my own memory. It's a story I've been told so many times that it's become a memory. And it's of Kai Tak airport. We had just arrived, and my memory is me running down the ramp at Kai Tak, straight into my father's arms. And he told me this story, that it was the first time I had ever met him, because my parents had an arranged marriage in Mumbai, India, and a few months after they got married, my dad had the opportunity to move to Hong Kong to work for a relative. But he could only scrape together enough money for a ticket for himself, so he left my mother behind. He had HK$50 left over, so he stayed at of Hong Kong is not even my own memory. It's a story I've been told so many times that it's become a memory. And it's of Kai Tak airport. We had just arrived, and my memory is me running down the ramp at Kai Tak, straight into my father's arms. And he told me this story, that it was the first time I had ever met him, because my parents had an arranged marriage in Mumbai, India, and a few months after they got married, my dad had the opportunity to move to Hong Kong to work for a relative. But he could only scrape together enough money for a ticket for himself, so he left my mother behind. He had HK$50 left over, so he stayed at Chungking Mansions . He lived on condensed milk sandwiches and that's how he saved up enough money to bring my mum and myself over. Mohan and Nisha Mirchandani at Jimmy's Kitchen, in 1995. Photo: courtesy Shonee Mirchandani MY FATHER, MOHAN MIRCHANDANI, came from a family of eight – there were five sisters and three brothers and he was the third youngest. My grandad died when Dad was three years old. When Dad was 16, he went to work for his uncle in the book industry. The uncle used to import Parker pens and light tubes from the United States. Then, during the independence movement (in India in the mid-1940s), , came from a family of eight – there were five sisters and three brothers and he was the third youngest. My grandad died when Dad was three years old. When Dad was 16, he went to work for his uncle in the book industry. The uncle used to import Parker pens and light tubes from the United States. Then, during the independence movement (in India in the mid-1940s), Mahatma Gandhi had this real shift towards locally made products. So, if you wanted to do retail in books, one of the few things that was allowed was education material. That's how the family got into the book business. They were very poor. They lived hand to mouth, often with not enough clothes, not enough food, but because there was this uncle, there was always books. Four of them went into the book business, and the other four sisters were married off. Mohan Mirchandani, newly arrived in Hong Kong in 1973. Photo: courtesy Shonee Mirchandani MY FATHER CAME TO WORK for a relative who was selling books and magazines to bookshops in Hong Kong. Two years after we moved here, he started his own company doing a similar thing. Everyone was importing from the UK because it was a British colony, so he started importing books and magazines from the US. There was a gap in the market for American consumers of magazines and the prices were cheaper because the pound was quite high. That's how he could grow his business, by underselling the market. Initially he sold to the news-stands, and then he started selling to for a relative who was selling books and magazines to bookshops in Hong Kong. Two years after we moved here, he started his own company doing a similar thing. Everyone was importing from the UK because it was a British colony, so he started importing books and magazines from the US. There was a gap in the market for American consumers of magazines and the prices were cheaper because the pound was quite high. That's how he could grow his business, by underselling the market. Initially he sold to the news-stands, and then he started selling to Watsons , ParknShop and Mannings A family photo taken days after Nisha and Shonee joined Mohan in Hong Kong. Photo: courtesy Shonee Mirchandani I WAS BORN IN 1973 and came here in 1975. The three of us were crammed into a room in someone's house and when my sister, Arti, was born in 1977, we moved into our own flat on Robinson Road. That same year, my father set up Far East Media. I went to Royden House Junior School on Caine Road – the kids were a bit rough. I then went to Island School. By 1985, my sister and I were quite grown up and my mum, Nisha, had more time on her hands, so my father bought a bookshop for her and called it and came here in 1975. The three of us were crammed into a room in someone's house and when my sister, Arti, was born in 1977, we moved into our own flat on Robinson Road. That same year, my father set up Far East Media. I went to Royden House Junior School on Caine Road – the kids were a bit rough. I then went to Island School. By 1985, my sister and I were quite grown up and my mum, Nisha, had more time on her hands, so my father bought a bookshop for her and called it Bookazine . It was in the Hopewell Centre and it was supposed to be just a little thing but he loved books and he loved people, and it was a coming together of both of these things. And my parents were working together for the first time. Every Sunday we would go to the same Chinese restaurant at the Aberdeen Marina Club , and I would go on about us going to the same restaurant, in the same place, 'So can you at least not talk about work?' They would invariably agree and that agreement would last about seven minutes before they'd start talking about the new staff, the old staff, the customers … After school I would just read in the shop and in the summer I would work in the store. A year later, in 1986, they opened one in Prince's Building. And then, in 1998, our biggest shop, the one that really launched the brand, in Alexandra House.