Book Warehouse Sales Review

Price of books in Singapore are relatively competitive as compared to most countries. Over the last 5 years, more book warehouse sales are held in either Expo or Suntec. Depending on the types of books you like and buy, some of the books are really cheap in some of these warehouse sales. I believe I have been to all the book warehouse sales organised by the big bookstores in Singapore and below are my observations.

Borders
I went to Borders sale today and I believe this might be Borders last book warehouse sales in Singapore. It is under liquidation and is selling whatever they have from its Wheellock store. The previous Borders sales were disappointing. Most books were either old, with all the browsing or outdated. To make it more uninteresting, the books were only slightly discounted. The crowd today was great. The discount was at 50% off which was great and the main draw. The main drawback of the event was that the books are too disorientated and too messy. The books are categiorized only to Kids, Fiction and Non Fiction and are all thrown into large boxes. 90% sold are books. In any case, this may well be the last time I go into a Borders store.

MPH
I started with MPH due to a recommendation from a friend about 4 years ago. Back then, I was amazed at the steep discount this warehouse sale has. I still remembered that I bought a Lords of the Ring Trilogy book for $8 at the warehouse and the same book was selling at about $40 in a MPH store. Back then, most nonfiction books are going at $7 and fiction books are at $5(if I did not remember wrongly). That is about 60-80% off shelf rates. Since then, I have search for my books in MPH sales. MPH started with an annual sale, but they have now half yearly sales, and sometimes for whatever reason, organising one every 2-3months. Besides books, they do have a small portion for stationaries. Though prices have increased in the walehouse sales, they are still about 50% off shelf rates.

Times
I think I have only gone to Times book warehouse sales a couple of times. The only thing i remembered was that the book selection was limited and the discount was dismayed. No interesting at all.

Popular
Popular has been organising bigger warehouse sales each year. They have a big difference among all the other bog players. they have a wide selection of chinese books and stationaries. They have a small section on english books though. So only go there if you want to buy some chinese books and stationaries.

There is an annual chinese books sales, or more of an exhibition, with talks included. I can't remember what is the name of the event, so sorry.

Overall, as I am most interested in self-help books, the MPH sales has been my main source to get my books over the last 4-5 years. Each time, i spent about $200 there.