Bookstores in Singapore

Bookstores reward the browsers. Singapore, Singapore has 96 mapped right now, and 3 of them deal in used books. That's 96 bookshops mapped around Singapore, each with its own shelves and specialties. The used sections are where the real bargains hide.

This guide covers every bookstore we could verify in and around Singapore (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Popular Bookstore and Popular, plus Popular. If a bookshop's missing from Singapore's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet.

The Singapore bookstore lineup

96 mapped within about 40 km — showing 60:

Popular Bookstore

Bookstore

Popular Bookstore — Bookstore.

Books Kinokuniya Bugis Junction Store

Bookstore

Books Kinokuniya Bugis Junction Store is Bookstore on 200 Victoria Street, Singapore. Books Kinokuniya Bugis Junction Store also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Su 11:00-21:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.

200 Victoria Street, Singapore, 188021

Hours: Mo-Su 11:00-21:00

Phone: +65 6339 1790

Website

Kinokuniya

Bookstore

Kinokuniya — Bookstore, found on 391 Orchard Road in Singapore. Also worth knowing about Kinokuniya: the map lists its hours as Mo-Su 10:00-21:30; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.

391 Orchard Road, Singapore, 238872

Hours: Mo-Su 10:00-21:30

Phone: +65 6737 5021

Website

The Golden Book Factory

Bookstore

The Golden Book Factory is Bookstore.

Wonderific Comics

Bookstore

Wonderific Comics — Bookstore on 211 Holland Avenue.

211 Holland Avenue, 278967

Times Travel

Bookstore

Times Travel — Bookstore.

Katong Catholic Book Centre

Bookstore

Katong Catholic Book Centre is Bookstore on East Coast Road.

East Coast Road

Seng Yew Book Store

Bookstore

Seng Yew Book Store — Bookstore, found on Koon Seng Road in Singapore.

Koon Seng Road, Singapore

David Shrier at Asian Banker Summit 2017 — Photograph by Unhedge (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Wardah Books

BookstoreRun by Wardah Books

Run by Wardah Books, Wardah Books is Bookstore, found on 58 Bussorah Street in Singapore. Also worth knowing about Wardah Books: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-20:00; Sa-Su 09:00-20:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.

58 Bussorah Street, Singapore, 199474

Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-20:00; Sa-Su 09:00-20:00

Phone: +65 6297 1232

Website

NUS Co-op@LT27

Bookstore

NUS Co-op@LT27 is Bookstore.

Postcard

Bookstore

Postcard is Bookstore.

me books nooks

Bookstore

me books nooks is Bookstore. me books nooks also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Su 10:00-22:00.

Hours: Mo-Su 10:00-22:00

ISEAS Publishing

Bookstore

ISEAS Publishing — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about ISEAS Publishing: the map lists its hours as Mo-Th 08:30-18:00; Fr 08:30-17:30; Sa-Su off; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.

Hours: Mo-Th 08:30-18:00; Fr 08:30-17:30; Sa-Su off

Phone: +65 6870 2447

Website

NUS Co-op

Bookstore

NUS Co-op — Bookstore on 469 Bukit Timah Road. Also worth knowing about NUS Co-op: the map lists its hours as Mo-We, Fr 10:00-17:00; Th 10:00-19:00; Sa,Su,PH off; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.

469 Bukit Timah Road, 259756

Hours: Mo-We, Fr 10:00-17:00; Th 10:00-19:00; Sa,Su,PH off

Phone: +65 6762 7671

first words

Bookstore

first words is Bookstore.

Book Talk

Bookstore

Book Talk — Bookstore.

Jing Ji Books & Cafe

Bookstore

Jing Ji Books & Cafe is Bookstore.

Epigram Books

Bookstore

Epigram Books is Bookstore on 1008 Toa Payoh North. Epigram Books also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 09:00-18:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.

1008 Toa Payoh North, 318996

Hours: Mo-Fr 09:00-18:00

Phone: +65 6292 4456

Website

Basheer Graphic Books

Bookstore

Basheer Graphic Books is Bookstore on 231 Bain Street, Singapore. Basheer Graphic Books also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:00-20:00; Su 11:00-19:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.

231 Bain Street, Singapore, 180231

Hours: Mo-Sa 10:00-20:00; Su 11:00-19:00

Phone: +65 6336 0810

Website

Littered with Books

Bookstore

Littered with Books is Bookstore on 20 Duxton Road. Littered with Books also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Th 12:00-20:00; Fr 12:00-21:00; Sa 11:00-21:00; Su 11:00-20:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.

20 Duxton Road, 089486

Hours: Mo-Th 12:00-20:00; Fr 12:00-21:00; Sa 11:00-21:00; Su 11:00-20:00

Phone: +65 6220 6824

Website

The Moon

Bookstore

The Moon is Bookstore on 37 Mosque Street. The Moon also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Th,Su 11:00-21:00; Fr,Sa 11:00-24:00; it has a website with more detail.

37 Mosque Street

Hours: Mo-Th,Su 11:00-21:00; Fr,Sa 11:00-24:00

Website

Booklink

Bookstore

Booklink is Bookstore. Booklink also notes on the map: it has a website with more detail.

Website

Kedai Alat Tuus TAlent Bookstore

Bookstore

Kedai Alat Tuus TAlent Bookstore is Bookstore.

Book Talk

Bookstore

Book Talk — Bookstore.

Kedai Buku E-books

Bookstore

Kedai Buku E-books is Bookstore.

Maha Yu Yi

Bookstore

Maha Yu Yi is Bookstore on 231 Bain Street. Maha Yu Yi also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Th 10:30-18:30; Fr-Sa 10:30-19:00; Su 11:00-18:00.

231 Bain Street

Hours: Mo-Th 10:30-18:30; Fr-Sa 10:30-19:00; Su 11:00-18:00

Knowledge Book Centre

Used bookstore

Knowledge Book Centre — Used bookstore.

Pacific Bookstores

Bookstore

Pacific Bookstores is Bookstore on 61 Jalan Hitam Manis, Singapore. Pacific Bookstores also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 09:00-16:00; Sa-Su,PH off; it has a website with more detail.

61 Jalan Hitam Manis, Singapore, 278475

Hours: Mo-Fr 09:00-16:00; Sa-Su,PH off

Website

The Zall Bookstore

Bookstore

The Zall Bookstore is Bookstore.

Books Ahoy!

Bookstore

Books Ahoy! — Bookstore.

Xi-An Bookstore @ Hougang

Bookstore

Xi-An Bookstore @ Hougang is Bookstore.

Epicgram

Bookstore

Epicgram is Bookstore.

BookXcess

Bookstore

BookXcess is Bookstore. BookXcess also notes on the map: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.

Phone: 607-533 0390

Website

Junior p@ge

Bookstore

Junior p@ge is Bookstore.

G&B Comics

Bookstore

G&B Comics is Bookstore.

Dignity Mama Stall

Used bookstore

Dignity Mama Stall — Used bookstore. Also worth knowing about Dignity Mama Stall: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-17:00; PH,Sa-Su closed.

Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-17:00; PH,Sa-Su closed

What the map tells us about bookstores in Singapore

38 of the 96 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — bookshops keep civilised hours, so the listed ones are usually reliable.

28 have websites listed. Worth a look for events — readings and signings get announced there first.

There's a cluster: 3 of them sit on 231 Bain Street, so you can string those into one walk and drive between the rest.

3 of the shops are tagged as selling used books — the second-hand shelves are where out-of-print gems and first editions turn up for pocket change.

The Singapore bookstore crawl

The efficient Singapore bookstore crawl strings these together: Popular Bookstore, Popular, Popular, Books Kinokuniya Bugis Junction Store on 200 Victoria Street, Kinokuniya on 391 Orchard Road, The Golden Book Factory, Wonderific Comics on 211 Holland Avenue, and Times Travel — 96 stops, one logical order. 88 more are listed below.

Bookstore tips for Singapore

A few things worth knowing before you work through Singapore's bookstores:

Check for a café corner at Popular Bookstore. A bookshop with coffee is a trap in the best way. Plan accordingly; you won't be leaving soon.
Support the shop's own publishing at Popular. Some independents publish local authors or print their own anthologies. Buying them funds the ecosystem directly.
Note the shop's specialties. Sci-fi, travel, art books, philosophy — every good shop leans somewhere. Find the lean that matches yours.
Don't skip the small press section. The weird, wonderful stuff lives here. Small presses take the risks the big publishers won't.

Good to know

We searched about 40 km around Singapore — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new bookstore in Singapore can take a while to appear. The 96 above are only as current as the community map. A bookstore that's shut, or a new one nobody's added yet, gets fixed with a single OpenStreetMap edit.

We don't list prices — they change constantly and vary by edition. What we list is the where: real shops, verified by real mappers, in alphabetical order with no favourites.

If you run one of the 96 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.

Bookstore listings for Singapore: 96 mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.