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Monday, January 28, 2008

love actually? no, books actually

as thefadpeople were walking along the quaint street of shophouses along telok ayer street at post-lunch hour, guess what actually caught our eyes?



after captivating us with its window display and its name (we initially thought it came from love actually!), we simply couldnt resist taking a peek inside!

but before we got into the shop, we found lil' pony receiving us!

how can anyone resist such an icon of our childhood?


as though that was not fascinating enough, barely within a few steps into the bookstore, we were instantly treated to a visual feast!





being kaypo by nature, we did our homework to find out more about this cutesy little book store. simply couldnt suppress our curiosity for the sublime mystic of the shop, thefadboy and i simply went ahead and talked to the big brains behind this ingenious concept, karen and kenny!

where did the name books actually came from?
we started off holding bookfairs at nus and people always ask us what we're selling. it was very frustrating to explain when we are obviously selling books! hence, we decided to come up with a name that explains adequately- books actually.


we did our research on ba, and found that many customers have suggested that a seating area would be lovely. Any comment to that?
we are not exactly going to have a seating area. But we are shifting location this coming march to ann siang hill, where it will be on the groundfloor and it has a small courtyard.

we actually dropped by ba last week. and we really must say, coming inside, simply taking in all this beautiful vintage collectibles really wowed us! the cameras, the typewriters (who actually uses them now?), that blue piano. man, it's so difficult not to fall in love with this shop. how did you lay your hands on them?
most of them are our personal collection for about 7 years, most of them are karen's.





so karen, which is your most prized possession here?
(thinking very hard) i love everything here, but well... it would have to be the valentine typewriter. (pointing to the red typewriter)


ha, i (thefadboy) noticed that too! but isn't everything here for sale?
nah, we only sell some of them. so yeah, the valentine typewriter is not for sale. (sheepish grin)


mm.. so how long has BA been around?
we started off as an entity on 2004, but the store only came at november 2005.


what's the biggest thing that has happened to you since then?
we often get write-ups from blogs, the straits times and even wallpaper - which has a full-page spread on april 2007. we didn't expect publicity.


ever thought of going into the mass market?
definitely not! we started off with literature as our core. We are thinking of developing other sections - philosophy, films, children classics.


how did other people get to hear about books actually?
word-of-mouth. from blogs, or people who just happen to see our window display (like the FAD People!)

a day in books actually would be...
sweatshop. We did everything ourselves - the publishing, handstitch notebooks, etc. everything you see here, other than the books, we did it ourselves. Even the sketchbooks - every page is made of different colour. as you can see, we have no hired help, everything is man by ourselves. Just ask our regulars, they know we work very hard!





what are you waiting for? quick make your way down and check out this lovely store! and even if you're not that big fan of vintage or books, make your way there to avoid the lunch crowd, you might fall in love with the notebooks there!after all, who can ever resist beautiful things, actually?


Books Actually
125A Telok Ayer Street
Singapore 068594
contact number: +65 6221 1170
- tfc-

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