Singapore indie booksellers launch Bookshop.sg

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.

- Shawn Hoo

Bookshop.sg, 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.