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- Bookstore to shut Lock Road outlet in Tsim Sha Tsui where it has been for decades
- Company to move operations online as it faces HK$3.71 million bill for unpaid rent
The coronavirus pandemic claimed another victim on Wednesday, as Hong Kong’s oldest bookshop announced it would be closing after decades and moving operations online, according to Denise Tsang, award-winning journalist and Kanis Leung, reporter for the City desk.
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| Swindon is to close its iconic Lock Road location in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Google Map |
Swindon Book Company Ltd, which was founded in 1918, said it would shut its Lock Road outlet in the heart of the city on Friday.
Generations
of Hongkongers have grown up with the English bookshop, with its
signature marble shopfront and the golden fonts of its name surviving
world wars, and the city’s boom and bust, at its location in Tsim Sha
Tsui.
“Swindon
has been a part of Hong Kong’s history for over a century, in our
everyday lives as generations have grown up, and even as a backdrop in
movies,” the company said...
Founded by the Li family, the bookshop is managed by its third generation and launched the online shop 10 years ago.
The
Covid-19 pandemic appears to have been the last straw for the store,
with the court writ claiming it started delaying rental payments in
2014.
