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CNA
13-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
8 Singapore indie bookstores join forces to launch Bookshop.sg, a one-stop site for book lovers
Book lovers, rejoice – there's a new way to support your favourite independent bookstores in Singapore. which launches Wednesday (May 14), is a one-stop online shopping platform that brings together eight independent local bookstores, allowing readers to browse and purchase books from all of them in one place, without the need to visit each store in person or to hop between different websites. The eight participating bookshops are: Epigram Books, Wardah Books, City Book Room, Union Book, Sea Breeze Books, Nurul Anwar Bookstore, Basheer Graphic Books and Thryft. will allow readers to explore a wide selection of titles, from local literary fiction and graphic design to Malay books and titles on religion and spirituality, among many others. So, how does it work? Let's say you're looking for The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei, To The Last Gram by Shreya Davies, or Why Palestine? Reflections From Singapore by Walid Jumblatt Abdullah – all recent popular titles by Singaporean authors. Or perhaps you're not sure what to look for, but you're interested in either a book about historical fiction or an international bestseller on mental health. You can simply search for a title or browse through the various book categories available on the site and purchase. The platform runs on an artificial intelligence (AI) system similar to what thrift store Thryft uses for its own secondhand store. Browsing, checkout and payment are handled seamlessly on while logistics are managed on the backend. Orders above S$150 qualify for free shipping, even if your books are from multiple bookstores. Otherwise, a flat delivery fee of S$5.90 applies. A SHARED PURPOSE FOR LOCAL BOOKSTORES For the booksellers involved, this isn't just about sales or visibility, it's also about the potential the collaboration can bring. 'This partnership shows the many creative ways bookshops here are bringing great reads to the masses,' said Eddie Lim, Thryft's co-founder and CEO. Ho TingXuan, Thryft's retail manager and project manager of added: 'With this platform, we hope to spotlight and grow Singapore's reading culture.' With its slogan 'Singapore's indie bookshops, in this together,' the platform also aims to encourage participating bookstores to collaborate further. Tan Waln Ching, director of City Book Room, a bookstore and publisher at Joo Chiat Road that specialises in Chinese books, said: 'With this first collaboration, all the publishers, booksellers, readers and writers can soon come together and discuss, brainstorm, share our challenges and think of solutions.' Ibrahim Tahir, director of Wardah Books, an Islamic bookshop in Kampong Glam, echoed the sentiment. 'The platform is secondary,' he said. 'The primary goal is the cooperation among booksellers that this platform enables. It moves us away from the ruthless competitive model of capitalism. 'Once we realise that we can have a unity of purpose, we can do many other things for the reading scene here.' is launching with eight stores, but the team hopes to welcome more independent bookstores and publishers based in Singapore in time.
Straits Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Eight Singapore indie booksellers launch Bookshop.sg as Amazon alternative
a new one-stop online bookstore, features more than 40,000 titles from local indie bookstores Epigram Books, Basheer Graphic Books, Wardah Books, Thryft, Sea Breeze Books, City Book Room, Union Book and Nurul Anwar Bookstore. ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY SINGAPORE – Singapore-based readers now have a convenient – and more socially conscious – way to buy books online, as eight local independent booksellers have banded together to launch a one-stop online bookstore featuring more than 40,000 titles. which opened for orders on May 14, is a booksellers' initiative which brings together fiction, non-fiction and children's titles across English, Mandarin and Malay. It is a joint effort by home-grown indie bookstores Epigram Books, Basheer Graphic Books, Wardah Books, Thryft, Sea Breeze Books, City Book Room, Union Book and Nurul Anwar Bookstore. The online store will provide free local shipping for purchases above $150 – or charge a $5.90 fee for smaller purchases – while allowing readers to mix and match titles from across the eight bookstores, Thryft's chief executive Eddie Lim tells The Straits Times. Mr Ibrahim Tahir, 51, founder of Wardah Books, adds: 'We are providing an alternative for people who are conscious about where their dollar is spent.' He first gathered indie booksellers at his store on 58 Bussorah Street in December 2024 to discuss avenues of cooperation. Bookstores are increasingly turning into 'showrooms' for customers who browse in-store, but opt to buy their books more cheaply from Amazon, says Mr Ibrahim, which harms the local literary ecosystem. He cites a 2014 French law which imposed a minimum book delivery fee to protect indie booksellers against huge online retailers. There is no equivalent rule in Singapore. Bringing indie bookstores together is an act of 'radical cooperation', he says, and offers an ethical choice to readers. 'The dollar that you spend in a local bookshop stays within the community. It drives things that we do such as book events, launches with local authors and book clubs. Amazon doesn't do that,' says Mr Ibrahim, who has run his bookstore in Kampong Gelam since 2002. Mr Ibrahim Tahir, founder of Wardah Books, says provides an alternative for people who are conscious about where their dollar is spent. PHOTO: ST FILE In recent months, bookstore closures have dominated headlines. Chains like Times Bookstores exited the market in September 2024 after nearly five decades of operations, and indie bookstores like Epigram Coffee Bookshop shuttered its only physical store at Singapore Art Museum in January 2025 due to low traffic. Epigram Books publisher Edmund Wee, who now sells books through an online bookstore, had convened a meeting with booksellers together with Mr Ibrahim during a testing time for the industry: 'The more outlets you have (to sell your books), the better it is for the bookseller. Every outlet extends your potential buyer, I don't see it as a competition.' Mother tongue-language booksellers hope that the multilingual online bookstore can help English-language readers better discover books in other languages. Mr Ang Jin Yong, 34, operations director of Sea Breeze Books, which sells Chinese-language books online, says: 'A common problem for our mother tongue publishers and booksellers is that our market is limited. But I still think that some of the English readers would want to read mother tongue books.' For Ms Tan Waln Ching, 42, director of City Book Room, this initiative lays the foundation for future collaborations between booksellers. 'I would like to learn from other booksellers as well because we are usually very busy taking care of our shops.' The eight booksellers that ST spoke to cite common challenges across the trade – predatory pricing by global conglomerates, the decline of literacy among young readers, the increase in children's screen time and dipping bookstore visitorship. Ms Tan Waln Ching, director of City Book Room, says lays the foundation for future collaborations between booksellers. PHOTO: ST FILE which is inspired by a similar initiative launched in the United States and United Kingdom in 2020, is the latest experiment by local booksellers to give a boost to the flagging trade. In July 2024, ST reported that experimental book concepts such as pay-to-rent community library Casual Poet Library were cropping up to deal with Singapore bookshops' biggest killer – rental costs. Mr Lim promises that – which is developed by Thryft – will provide an 'on par or better experience' than Amazon as users can currently browse books by genre and bookstore. The online store is looking to onboard more indie bookstores in the future and feature curated collections by booksellers as well. Mr Ibrahim hopes the online store will also drive new readers to physical stores. 'For the ecosystem to survive, it needs to recognise that the keystone is the bookshop. The bookshop is what ties together publishers, writers and readers all in one space – and space is important because this is where human beings interact.' He says will help 'reach the readers who want to look for books, but are not socialised into coming into a bookshop and go online to look for things'. He is cognisant, however, that it will not be able to address more structural problems: 'The question of the fall of readership is a much bigger question.' ( will host two booksellers panels at Thryft Hub, 120 Lower Delta Road, on May 31 as part of its launch. The free event, which requires registration, will see each bookstore showcase more than a dozen of its best titles. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
