A 50-year-old independent bookshop has announced it will close when its lease ends, following a raid by Hong Kong national security police earlier this month.
Customers at Greenfield Book Store said on Wednesday they headed to the shop on Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Mong Kok after learning the news of the closure earlier in the day.
In a social media post announcing its closure, Greenfield expressed its gratitude to customers.
“The shop will close down after the end of the lease. Thank you, everyone, for your support over the past 50 years since the shop opened. Thank you and take care,” the bookshop, founded in 1976, said.
An employee told a South China Morning Post reporter visiting the shop that it would remain open until September, but did not specify the final day of operation.
About 10 patrons were browsing titles at noon, with some saying they had been customers for decades and decided to visit again after learning of the impending closure.
Jess Chan, a former teacher in her 50s, said she had brought her 18-year-old daughter Dora Wong to look for volumes on history and literature.
Chan explained that although her family had emigrated, she always paid a visit to the bookstore when she came back to the city.
“I used to bury my nose in the books here when I was a secondary school student,” she said. “I would frequent the neighbouring Luck Win Books too.”
The mother had bought a Chinese translation of the novel Love in the Time of Cholera by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, while her daughter had purchased a volume on the role of gender in archaeology and another about the history of elite military units.
“This place has broadened my horizons and introduced me to prose and novels about things beyond my daily life,” she said.
Greenfield was one of two independent bookstores raided by national security police two weeks ago. The other was Have a Nice Stay bookshop in Prince Edward.
The police operation resulted in the arrests of five people on suspicion of performing acts with seditious intent, as well as the seizure of some books.
The force earlier said that the five suspects had allegedly displayed seditious items in the stores and sold seditious publications that could incite hatred against authorities.
Hundreds of comments flooded Greenfield’s social media accounts following the announcement of its plan to close.
“I am so grateful to [Greenfield] for having so many books at reasonable prices for me to choose from when I needed comfort over the years,” one user wrote. “During these final days, I will do my best to support you.”
Another user commented that he had been visiting the bookstore for 40 years and did not want to say goodbye, saying he felt it was “irreplaceable”.
A day before the police raid, Have a Nice Stay announced plans to close on August 30, citing financial losses and “hard-to-grasp red lines”.
The bookstore, founded by several former journalists in 2022, had said that “recent developments were perhaps the last straw that broke the camel’s back”.
Hong Kong’s independent bookstores, many of which organise community events such as author sessions, have faced mounting legal and business challenges in recent weeks.
Last month, Leticia Wong Man-huen and her husband, the owners of Hunter Bookstore in Sham Shui Po, were arrested on suspicion of sedition and money laundering.
Two other independent bookstores – Elmbook and Luck Win Bookstore – were disqualified from participating in the annual Hong Kong Book Fair, despite taking part in previous years.
A week after the disqualification, Elmbook announced on social media that it would close in April next year. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
