A 75-year-old textbook store in Hong Kong will be closing down on December 31. The shop made the announcement on their Facebook page yesterday.
Since 1943, Ling Kee Book Store Ltd has been publishing and selling primary and secondary school textbooks, as well as other types of books. They have two stores, one in Central and one in San Po Kong.
The bookstore supplies textbooks to about 50 local schools. Their business also covers children’s books, stationery and gifts, as well as education-related electronic products and software.
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According to the company statement, they would be giving people a discount of up to 90 per cent until the end of this year.
They did not disclose their reasons for the closure.
Their announcement on Facebook drew much attention. Netizen Rebecca Cheung thanked the company owner for “sticking with the countless amount of students through all these years!”
Another customer, who called themselves Souffle Souffle, said it was sad news. “I remember all my history and Chinese history textbooks in secondary school were published by Ling Kee. The designs were pretty, that’s why it left such an impression on me.”
In July 2014, Ling Kee Book Store received the highest ranking among 1,584 shops under the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s Quality Tourism Services Scheme review. According to the company’s website, it ranked top in product knowledge, sales process, staff training, customer service, and systems operation. Ling Kee Book Store became the first local publisher to print a Chinese encyclopaedia in 1998. The New Century Encyclopaedia, printed in colour, was written by locals and based on the simplified version of The Encyclopaedia of China.
Young Post contacted the store, but they have not responded.