Reopened Borders is a Popular clone

Reopened Borders is a Popular clone

SINAGPORE- The new Borders Singapore bookstore has opened at Westgate mall in Jurong East but it looks and feels like a Popular bookstore.

Upon entering the store, customers are greeted by rows of educational guides on sale, which are the mainstay of any Popular bookshop.

Customers were disappointed that the new Borders Singapore store lacked the cosy seating areas and diverse selection of the former Borders store at Wheelock Place.

That store was originally part of a United States-based chain known for its reading couches, bistro, and book and music events. Operated after 2008 by an Australian group, REDgroup Retail, it closed down in 2011.

Popular Holdings, known for its textbook and stationery retail stores, acquired the right to use the Borders Singapore name last year for an undisclosed sum. The 8,000 sq ft Borders Singapore bookstore on the fourth floor of Westgate is smaller than Prologue, Popular's former flagship lifestyle bookstore.

Prologue opened in Ion Orchard in 2009 but vacated its 12,000 sq ft space this August, citing rising rentals and lower profit margins.

Customer Ariff Razak, 29, an operations technician at Senoko Power Station, said: "I used to patronise the store at Wheelock Place. This is smaller and it lacks space for readers to sit and enjoy the books. I miss the previous one where there were a lot of chairs and seating corners."

Sales were brisk, according to the owners, with about 1,000 people signing up on opening day on Monday for a $20 annual membership which gives them discounts on merchandise and cafe purchases valid only at the store.

The new Borders Singapore store is open from 10am to 10pm daily and stocks around 16,000 titles in genres from anthropology to comics and fiction. A section of stationery, CDs and DVDs surrounds a 60-inch TV screen that plays movies, while a semi- circular set of three cushioned stools is provided for young ones near the children's books section.

The Epilogue cafe associated with Prologue is back, serving hot drinks and desserts and seating up to 50 people.

At least 100 customers were at the store on Monday evening, including Madam Esther Yap, 48, and her daughter, Jodi Bek, 11. They live in the West and are happy to have more bookstore choices nearby. Books Kinokuniya opened a 7,600 sq ft store at nearby Jem mall in June.

Jodi, a pupil at Nan Hua Primary School, bought books from writers Anthony Horowitz and Orson Scott Card. "The selection here is quite okay. I'm glad Borders is here because I can't get some books I want from Kinokuniya or Popular," she said.

Another customer, Ms Sarah Shariff, 20, said she liked the range of books on offer but was disappointed at the limited choices of music.

"I've been anticipating the opening of this store," said the third-year arts management student at Republic Polytechnic, who lives in the West. She has fond memories of listening to stories in the children's corner at Borders store at Wheelock Place.

"They could make this store more family-friendly. It has become a general bookstore now," she said.


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