5 Best Bookstores in Singapore: For All Book Kinds for 2025

Written by Emma Lee | September 04, 2025

Image: Juhan Sonin

It is said that “Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.”. The aforesaid may match Singaporean’s belief since Singaporeans read a lot and thus bookstores are grown everywhere throughout the country. They can be spacious stores of large bookstore chains or beautiful independent bookstores offering good selections of books.

Herein are the 5 best bookstores in Singapore which are highly voted.

1. Kinokuniya Bookstore

Best for

Japanese books

Phone

+65 6276 5558

Website

www.kinokuniya.com.sg

sims@kinokuniya.com

Highlights:

The mega-bookstore Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City is the biggest bookstore in Singapore and one of the largest bookstores in Southeast Asia, providing the widest selection of valuable books and magazines uneasy to find elsewhere. This store usually stocks 400,000 books and attracts more than 200,000 visitors every month.
The best place to buy Japanese books, mangas, magazines, and stationery.
It’s convenient to check Kinokuniya’s catalogue using its BookWeb website https://singapore.kinokuniya.com/. You can also order books online and then pay and pick them up at the store.

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2. POPULAR Bookstore

Image: POPULAR Bookstore

Best for

Chinese books

Address

Block 231 Bain Street #04-23/33 Bras Basah Complex, Singapore 180231

Phone

+65 6339 0772

Opening hours

Mon to Thu 10:00 - 19:00
Fri to Sun & PH 10:00 - 21:00

Website

www.popular.com.sg

popcentral@popularworld.com

Highlights:

POPULAR is the largest and oldest bookstore chain based in Singapore with an extensive selection of books of all genres, from novels, science fiction books to non-fiction books like business books, biography books, travel guides, language guidebooks, to parenting books and cookbooks. Newspapers, magazines, music CDs, stationery, and computer accessories are also available at their stores.
A bookstore of choice for buying Chinese books: Among well-known bookstores, POPULAR offers the greatest range of different genres and titles of Chinese books.
POPULAR bookstores are conveniently located across Singapore: With more than 27 retail stores available all over the city, it is easy for you to visit a POPULAR bookstore near your place.
The best place to buy school textbooks, assessments books, papers, and school materials. Besides retail stores, POPULAR also operates educational-focused bookshops in many schools and colleges.

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3. Times Bookstores

Image: Times Bookstores

Best for

Travel books

Address

438 Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 1, #02-01,
Singapore 569619

Phone

+65 6459 1355

Website

www.timesbookstores.com.sg

timesbookstores@tpl.com.sg

Highlights:

Specialized in travel books: Times bookstores, especially Times Travel bookshops at Changi Airport terminals, are popular places to buy traveller-books, travel guidebooks, maps, and travel-related items.
Interesting events are organized regularly like healthy lifestyle sharing sessions, meet author sessions and exciting children activities such as 3D paper crafting and stained glass kite making lessons.
Good return policy: Times Bookstores return policy allows customers to return or exchange the purchased books within 7 days of receipt date with no questions asked.
Free gift wrapping service provided at all Times Bookstores. House wrapping paper is also complimentary.

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4. BooksActually Bookstore

Image: BooksActually

Best for

English literature books

Address

9 Yong Siak Street, Tiong Bahru, Singapore 168645

Phone

+65 6222 9195

Opening hours

Monday 11:00 - 18:00
Tuesday to Friday 11:00 - 21:00
Saturday 10:00 - 21:00
Sunday 10:00 - 18:00

Website

www.booksactually.com

booksellers@booksactually.com

Highlights:

BooksActually stocks the largest collection of English literature books with rare and unique titles of Murakami, Salinger, Capote, Nabokov, and Sweeney. You can also find many local novels of Singaporean authors.
A vintage quaint bookshop with a warm relaxing atmosphere provides visitors enjoyable and pleasurable book-browsing ambience. The back of the store is a small charming area with attractive vintage and retro items on sale.
Located at the nostalgic and hip Tiong Bahru estate: You can spend your whole weekend morning or afternoon enjoying all the best things Tiong Bahru neighbourhood has to offer such as art cafes, beautiful classic bakeries, fashion boutiques, cosy restaurants, and lively wet market.

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5. Basheer Graphic Books

Image: Basheer Graphic Books

Best for

Graphic books

Address

231 Bain Street, #04-19 Bras Basah Complex
Singapore 180231

Phone

+65 6336 0810

Opening hours

Mon - Sat 10:00 to 20:30
Sun & PH 11:00 - 18:30

Website

www.basheergraphic.com

enquiry@basheergraphic.com

Highlights:

The one-stop shop for all art, graphic, and creativity books and magazines: Basheer Graphic Books offers the best specialized titles of graphics, cartooning, animation, illustration, architecture, interior design, landscape design, fashion design, product design, graphic design, typography, photography, art & craft, picture books, drawing books, sketching books, copywriting books, and inspirational books.
Besides visiting the bookstore, you can patronize interesting fairs held at Bras Basah Complex weekly like second-hand book fairs, stationery fairs, and antique fairs.

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