Borders Reopening in Singapore
One of my favourite activities outside, with and without my kids, is going to a bookstore. We enjoy going through, and buying, the new publications and basically just being in a room with too many books. We were thus filled with great excitement when we heard Borders was going to reopen in Singapore.
I was however disappointed when we actually went there today. Apart from the physical discomfort of dust hanging in the air due to Westgate not really being completed, the new Borders was spatially challenged.
This of course limited the range of books available to 'popular' genres and even the 'anthropology' section seemed more apt to be 'biographical'. They did however have a good range of classics (for the standard exams maybe?) and the stationery section had some interesting potential but overall still fell flat on being no different than its sister store.
You can even feel the status quo weighing on you when you pass certain aisles.
What I felt was most missing from the store, compared to the previous one, was its soul.
You can buy a brand but not its spirit.
When you enter the former Borders at Wheelock, you feel like you are entering a counterculture. It was where you are welcomed to enter the pages of the books within, where the staff really know what you are talking about and are interested in what you are searching for, where you actually find books (and stationery) that are different and not like every other store. It was, in short, global, welcoming and hip.
Then again, maybe we lost the former Borders partly because we were not deserving.
We treated the aisles like a library, we overstayed the welcome extended, and maybe, just maybe, we did not really want ideas and stories that were much different than what we are used to. Maybe, we don't really read, at least not so much as to warrant a purchase.
As for now, I think I will stick to the online and 'boutique' bookstores when I really want a book. When we feel like going to a physical store, I think I'll go to their neighbour next door who have more variety first and would only drop by just so I could go to a different bookstore.
I was however disappointed when we actually went there today. Apart from the physical discomfort of dust hanging in the air due to Westgate not really being completed, the new Borders was spatially challenged.
This of course limited the range of books available to 'popular' genres and even the 'anthropology' section seemed more apt to be 'biographical'. They did however have a good range of classics (for the standard exams maybe?) and the stationery section had some interesting potential but overall still fell flat on being no different than its sister store.
You can even feel the status quo weighing on you when you pass certain aisles.
What I felt was most missing from the store, compared to the previous one, was its soul.
You can buy a brand but not its spirit.
When you enter the former Borders at Wheelock, you feel like you are entering a counterculture. It was where you are welcomed to enter the pages of the books within, where the staff really know what you are talking about and are interested in what you are searching for, where you actually find books (and stationery) that are different and not like every other store. It was, in short, global, welcoming and hip.
Then again, maybe we lost the former Borders partly because we were not deserving.
We treated the aisles like a library, we overstayed the welcome extended, and maybe, just maybe, we did not really want ideas and stories that were much different than what we are used to. Maybe, we don't really read, at least not so much as to warrant a purchase.
As for now, I think I will stick to the online and 'boutique' bookstores when I really want a book. When we feel like going to a physical store, I think I'll go to their neighbour next door who have more variety first and would only drop by just so I could go to a different bookstore.
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