Reading culture ● Keep bookstores alive by subsidising their rental costs

Book lovers here are once again expressing much dismay over news concerning a major bookshop (Books Kinokuniya flagship Takashimaya store to downsize, space to be partly taken over by new cafe, Feb 17, and Revive reading culture and save bookstores, Feb 19).

- Colin Lim

What surprises me is that despite the considerable hand-wringing going on for years, there has not been any solution to the perennial problem of local bookshops shuttering.

That even Singapore's biggest bookshop is facing an existential crisis hits close to home as I am there every Wednesday afternoon sampling literary delights along its hallowed aisles.

Speaking to the staff at Books Kinokuniya, I hear the constant refrain that it all comes down to "dollars and cents".

Contrary to what some believe, bookstores are not a sunset industry, as exemplified by thriving book retail scenes in many countries.