For generations of Singaporean readers, Times Bookstores was more than a place to buy books, it was a landmark. Founded in 1984, the chain grew to become one of the most recognisable names in local bookselling, with outlets in major shopping centres, community malls, and even Changi Airport. At its peak in the early 2000s, Times operated more than 30 stores across the island, offering everything from bestsellers and textbooks to stationery and educational toys. But by 2024, the brand had shrunk to a handful of outlets, its story a mirror of broader changes in retail, publishing, and reading habits.
This article traces the full arc of Times Bookstores in Singapore, from its founding to its present-day footprint. It covers key milestones, expansion and contraction, the rise of digital competition, and the chain's efforts to stay relevant. Along the way, we note the specific stores, dates, and decisions that defined its four-decade journey.
Beginnings: 1984-1990
Times Bookstores was launched in 1984 by the Times Publishing Group, a diversified media and publishing conglomerate with roots in Singapore. The group already owned Federal Publications and the textbook publisher Pan Pacific Publications, giving it a strong foothold in educational publishing. The retail chain was conceived as a way to reach consumers directly, complementing the group's wholesale and distribution business.
The first Times Bookstore opened in 1984 at Far East Plaza on Scotts Road. At around 1,500 square feet, it was modest by later standards but offered a carefully curated selection of fiction, non-fiction, and children's books alongside newspapers, magazines, and stationery. The store's clean layout and bright lighting stood out in a landscape still dominated by independent bookshops like the old MPH Bookstores and small Chinese-language shops along North Bridge Road.
Early customer reception was strong. Within two years, Times opened a second store at Marina Square, then a brand-new mall that became a weekend destination for families. Branch No. 2 stocked a wider range, including imported titles from the UK and US, and introduced the concept of a dedicated children's corner with low shelves and colourful displays, an innovation at the time.
By 1989, Times had five stores: Far East Plaza, Marina Square, Delfi Orchard (a small 800 sq ft outlet), Centrepoint, and a pilot store in Jurong East near the bus interchange. The chain also began stocking the Times Atlas of the World and other reference works published by its parent company, reinforcing the link between publishing and retail.
Growth and diversification: 1991-2000
The 1990s were a decade of aggressive expansion. Times Bookstores opened new outlets at a rate of two to three per year, targeting suburban heartland malls as well as prime Orchard Road locations. By 1995, the chain had 15 stores. By 2000, that number had doubled to over 30, making Times the largest bookstore chain in Singapore by store count, ahead of MPH (which had around 12) and Popular Bookstore (which focused more on textbooks and school supplies).
Key openings during this period included:
- Times Bookstore, Junction 8, opened 1993 in Bishan, one of the first suburban malls; at 3,200 sq ft it was then the chain's largest store.
- Times Bookstore, Tampines Mall, opened 1995, anchoring the new Tampines regional centre; it featured an in-store cafe for the first time.
- Times Bookstore, Suntec City, opened 1996, a flagship outlet with over 5,000 sq ft and a dedicated section for business and management titles.
- Times Bookstore, Changi Airport Terminal 2, opened 1997, targeting travellers with travel guides, novels, and Singapore souvenirs; it was the first airport bookstore for the chain.
In 1998, Times launched the Times Book Club, a membership programme that offered 10% discount on all purchases, early access to sales, and a quarterly newsletter with reviews and author interviews. Membership cost $20 per year (later reduced to $12 for students). By 2000, the Book Club had over 50,000 active members, a significant number for a small market.
The late 1990s also saw Times introduce its home brand stationery and educational toys under the 'Times Smart Kids' label. These higher-margin products helped offset the thin margins on books, which typically earned retailers only 35-40% of the cover price in Singapore.
Throughout this period, Times positioned itself as a 'community bookstore'. Many outlets hosted weekend storytelling sessions for children, author meet-and-greets (including local writers like Catherine Lim and Philip Jeyaretnam), and holiday reading programmes. The Times Children's Reading Club, launched in 1999, offered a free sticker chart and a small prize for every five books read; it attracted over 12,000 sign-ups in its first year alone.
Peak years and emerging competition: 2001-2008
The early 2000s were the high-water mark for Times Bookstores. In 2001, the chain operated 34 outlets and employed over 400 staff. The flagship Orchard Building store (opened 1999, closed 2004) was a two-level space of 8,000 sq ft with a full café and a dedicated reading lounge, a concept years ahead of its time. Revenue peaked in 2003 at an estimated $55 million, according to industry sources, before a gradual decline set in.
However, competition was intensifying. The arrival of Borders in 2000 (at Wheelock Place) and Kinokuniya (whose Singapore flagship at Ngee Ann City opened in 1997) exposed local readers to larger, more visually impressive stores. Borders offered a café, live music, and a huge range of magazines; Kinokuniya brought an unparalleled selection of Asian and English-language titles. Times could not match these foreign chains' deep pockets or global supply chains, but it fought back by focusing on convenience and local relevance.
In 2004, Times launched the 'Neighbourhood Times' concept: smaller stores (1,000-1,500 sq ft) located in HDB estate malls like Toa Payoh HDB Hub, Hougang Mall, and Woodlands Civic Centre. These neighbourhood outlets stocked a narrower range, bestsellers, textbooks, children's books, and basic stationery, but emphasised short waiting times and friendly service. The strategy worked: by 2006, Times had 12 neighbourhood outlets, and the chain's total store count remained at 30-plus.
Another move was the Times Schools Programme, an outreach initiative that brought pop-up book sales to primary and secondary schools. Schools could host a Times on-site sale for a week, with the school receiving 10% of proceeds for its library fund. At its peak in 2007, the programme visited over 80 schools per year, generating $2 million in annual revenue.
But the ground was shifting. The rise of online bookselling, especially the launch of Amazon's Singapore-specific site in 2005 (Amazon.com started offering free shipping to Singapore on orders over $25), began to erode foot traffic. E-book readers like the Sony Reader (2006) and Amazon Kindle (2007) also started to appear, though their market share in Singapore remained tiny until after 2010.
The long decline: 2009-2019
The global financial crisis of 2008-2009 hit retail hard, and Times Bookstores was not spared. Revenue fell by approximately 15% in 2009, and the chain posted a small operating loss for the first time. Parent company Times Publishing Group responded by closing six underperforming stores in 2010: Marina Square, Delfi Orchard, Centrepoint, Suntec City, Junction 8, and the Changi Airport T2 outlet. The Far East Plaza store, the original from 1984, had already closed in 2008. These closures reduced the chain to 24 outlets by end-2010.
Throughout the 2010s, Times continued to shrink, but not without trying new formats. In 2012, the chain launched a pilot Times Express concept, tiny stores of just 400-600 sq ft in MRT stations like Raffles Place MRT and City Hall MRT, selling only bestsellers, magazines, and snacks. The idea was to capture impulse purchases from commuters. The Express stores were modestly profitable, but they never scaled beyond four locations because of high rental costs in transit nodes.
In 2014, to mark its 30th anniversary, Times ran a '30% Off All Books' promotion for one weekend. The sale generated long queues and strong media coverage, but also underscored the reality that the chain's pricing power was weak. Customers were increasingly comparing prices on the phone while in store.
By 2016, the chain had 18 stores. The remaining outlets were mostly in suburban malls like Tampines Mall, Compass One (Sengkang), Causeway Point (Woodlands), and White Sands (Pasir Ris). The Orchard Road presence was gone, save for a small store at Plaza Singapura (opened 2010, closed 2018).
In 2018, Times Publishing Group sold its entire retail division to Popular Book Company, a move that surprised many in the industry. Popular, which already operated the Popular Bookstore chain (over 60 outlets in Singapore), paid an undisclosed sum for the Times brand and all remaining store leases. Popular immediately closed eight overlapping locations and absorbed the others into its own network. The Times name was retained for a handful of stores where the lease was favourable and the location served a different demographic from Popular's core student audience.
Post-acquisition era: 2020-2024
Under Popular's ownership, Times Bookstores continued to operate but at a much reduced scale. By 2020, only five standalone Times Bookstores remained: Tampines Mall, Compass One, Causeway Point, Junction 10 (Yew Tee), and Lot One (Choa Chu Kang). The COVID-19 pandemic caused temporary closures and a sharp drop in footfall, but all five stores survived the circuit breaker period.
In 2021, Popular rebranded the Times stores as 'Times by Popular' with a new logo and a slightly adjusted merchandise mix that reduced book inventory by about 20% and increased space for stationery, art supplies, and educational games. The children's section was expanded, and each store added a 'Popular Exchange' corner where customers could trade in used textbooks for vouchers (a service already successful in Popular's own outlets).
By 2023, the retail landscape had changed again. E-commerce, led by Shopee, Lazada, and Amazon Singapore, had become the default book-buying channel for many readers. The National Library Board (NLB) offered free borrowing of physical books and e-books, further reducing the need to purchase new titles. Rising rents in suburban malls also squeezed margins. In late 2023, Popular closed the Times store at Junction 10 and Lot One, citing underperformance.
As of early 2024, Times Bookstores Singapore had just three outlets: Tampines Mall (Level 3, near the MRT entrance), Compass One (Level 2), and Causeway Point (Level 4). All three are branded as 'Times by Popular' and are described by Popular management as 'legacy locations'. The stores continue to serve a loyal base of customers, especially families with young children who appreciate the dedicated play-and-read area at the Tampines Mall outlet.
In an interview with The Straits Times in March 2024, Popular's CEO Chou Cheng Ngok stated that the group has 'no immediate plans' to close the remaining Times stores, but also no plans to open new ones. The brand, he said, retains goodwill and a 'distinct identity' that appeals to customers who grew up with it. However, he acknowledged that the model of a general-interest bookstore in a shopping mall is 'increasingly difficult' to sustain.
Legacy and impact on reading culture
For 40 years, Times Bookstores was a fixture of Singapore's literary landscape. It introduced many Singaporeans to the concept of the 'bookstore as destination', a place to browse, read, and spend time, not just purchase a prescribed textbook. Its neighbourhood outlets brought books to HDB estates where dedicated shops had been rare. Within the broader context of buying and borrowing books in Singapore, Times for decades was the most accessible option for millions of readers.
The chain also played a role in promoting local writing. Through the Times Book Club newsletters and in-store events, it gave shelf space to Singaporean authors at a time when major international chains often ignored them. The Times Young Writers' Contest, run annually from 2001 to 2010, awarded prizes in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction for students aged 12-18; winning entries were anthologised in the Times Young Writers' Anthology, published by the parent company.
Another lasting contribution is the Times Discount Card, launched in 1995, which was one of the earliest loyalty programmes in Singapore retail. The card, now folded into Popular's membership scheme, still offers 10% off at all Times and Popular stores, a direct link to the brand's history.
For book collectors and seekers of secondhand or rare titles, the decline of Times and other general chains has shifted attention to alternatives. The best secondhand bookshops in Singapore today include independents like BooksActually (which started in 2005 and later rebranded as Teahouse Books), Littered with Books (closed in 2023), and the second-hand sections of Cash Converters and Hock Hwa Book Store in Bras Basah Complex. The market for used textbooks remains strong, served by Popular's own textbook exchange and platforms like Carousell.
The bookshops in heritage areas like Bras Basah Complex and Chinatown have become destinations for serious readers, while community book exchanges and book swap events have flourished as a cost-free alternative for casual readers. For those who prefer to buy new books, the range of options has narrowed significantly since the 1990s: where to buy new books in Singapore now means largely online, at Popular, or at Kinokuniya (the only full-line international bookstore left in the city centre).
The story of Times Bookstores is also the story of how a small, ambitious retailer rose to dominate its market, then slowly ceded ground to technology, changing tastes, and the economics of urban retail. Its remaining three stores are a quiet echo of a once-bustling empire. Whether they survive another decade depends on whether enough Singaporeans still want to browse a physical shelf in an era of digital everything.