SINGAPORE / SHOPPING CULTURE / BRAS BASAH BOOK RETAIL HISTORY
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By The Memory desk · Historical reference · Sources checked 7 October 2026
Bras Basah Complex, at 231 Bain Street, is the Housing and Development Board block that became Singapore’s “City of Books”, 书城 (shu cheng) in Mandarin. HDB completed it in 1979 and it opened in 1980, when booksellers displaced from the old shophouses of Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road moved in together. Popular’s flagship there, about 2,323 square metres over three floors, was described as the largest bookstore in Southeast Asia when it opened.
The Bras Basah Complex history is the story of a book district that was moved indoors rather than lost. Over four decades the building also became a stage for xinyao, the home-grown Mandarin folk-song movement, and later a centre for art supplies, galleries and printers as the Chinese book trade shrank. This guide sets out the dated record, drawing mainly on the National Library and the National Heritage Board, and notes where sources disagree.
Bras Basah Complex at a glance
| Address | 231 Bain Street, Singapore 180231, near Bras Basah and Bugis MRT stations |
| Completed | 1979, according to the National Heritage Board; officially opened in 1980 |
| Developer | Housing and Development Board (HDB) |
| Building | Two blocks of 21-storey flats above a four- and five-storey shopping and office podium |
| Other names | 书城 (shu cheng, “City of Books”) and 百胜楼 (bai sheng lou) |
| Known for | Chinese and educational bookshops, stationery, art materials, galleries, framing, printing and music shops; xinyao concerts in the 1980s |
| Today | An HDB commercial and residential complex still trading in books, art supplies and printing (as of October 2026) |
Before the complex: the book streets of Bras Basah
Long before HDB built anything on Bain Street, the area was already called a city of books. The National Library’s Curiocity project describes rows of second-hand textbook shops along Bras Basah Road, North Bridge Road and nearby streets in the 1940s and 1950s, and students crowding them every December before the school year began in January. The Library’s entry on Bras Basah Road likewise remembers second-hand bookshops selling textbooks and popular fiction in the 1950s and 1960s.
Some of the bigger names had deep roots in the district. Shanghai Book Company, founded in 1925, moved to North Bridge Road in 1929. Popular began in 1934 as the World Book Company, founded by Chou Sing Chu, and took the name Popular Book Company in 1936. The district’s other great bookseller, the Methodist Publishing House, traded from its Armenian Street building from 1908; its story is told in our history of MPH and the Methodist Publishing House.
1977 to 1980: HDB builds a home for the booksellers
Urban renewal in the 1970s meant the old shophouses were coming down, and the booksellers needed somewhere to go. HDB’s answer was a mixed-use block on Bain Street: two towers of 21-storey flats above a podium of shops and offices. Contemporary press reports, summarised in the complex’s Wikipedia entry, date the announcement to October 1977 and give a cost of about S$13 million, with 240 four-room flats upstairs. The National Heritage Board dates completion to 1979, BiblioAsia to 1978, and all sources agree that it opened in 1980.
The move was not instant. The heritage site Remember Singapore records that the last bookshops on Bras Basah Road, including the Educational Book Emporium, S.S. Mubaruk and Brothers and Student’s Book Associates, left in late July 1982, either for the new complex or elsewhere, before their shophouses were demolished. Early occupancy was uneven too: by one count in late 1980, only about 20 of the complex’s hundred-odd units were trading as bookshops, while BiblioAsia, without giving a date, describes more than 90 of 117 units as occupied by bookstores or stationery shops.
Why is it called the City of Books?
The nickname describes what was inside. According to the National Library’s BiblioAsia journal, the established Chinese booksellers who moved in included Popular, Shanghai Book Company, Union Book Company and Youth Book Company, joined by newer names such as Xinhua, Seng Yew Book Store, International Books, Maha Yu Yi and Evernew Book Store. Commercial Press and Grassroots also opened branches. With so many under one roof, Chinese-language readers began calling the building 书城, the City of Books.
Popular was the anchor. Its flagship covered around 2,323 square metres across three floors and, BiblioAsia notes, was considered the largest bookstore in Southeast Asia when it opened in 1980. The merchants also organised themselves: in the early 1980s they formed the Bras Basah Complex Merchants Association, and when HDB allowed tenants to change trades in mid-1986, the association pressed for at least 80 per cent of the shop space to stay with bookshops, Remember Singapore reports. For Popular’s wider story, from assessment books to stationery, see our history of Popular Bookstore.
The 1980s: xinyao in the atrium
The complex had a second life as a stage. The National Heritage Board describes it as a popular venue in the 1980s for Singapore xinyao singers to launch and promote their albums. Xinyao, the Mandarin folk songs written and sung largely by students, suited a building already full of young readers and Chinese-language bookshops. Remember Singapore records that these events drew hundreds of fans to the atrium, which also hosted exhibitions and art shows in the 1980s and 1990s; in 1989 HDB fitted it with a fibreglass roof costing about S$80,000.
The connection has not been forgotten. In 2014 a xinyao reunion performance at the complex drew close to 1,000 fans, Remember Singapore reports; press accounts name Eric Moo and Dawn Gan among the singers. For the wider story of how Singapore bought its music on record, cassette and CD, see our history of gramophone, CD and DVD shops.
2000s to 2020s: from books to art, printing and music
By the 2000s the Chinese book trade was in decline, which BiblioAsia attributes to online retailers, changing reading habits and rising costs. Old names began to close. Sources differ slightly on when Shanghai Book Company shut: Curiocity gives 2008 and Remember Singapore mid-2009, after 83 years in business. Kaiming Enterprises, founded in 1939, closed in February 2016, and the Music Book Room closed at the end of February 2023 after 43 years.
Other trades filled the gaps. In 2021 Time Out named Art Friend, San-Ee Art Gallery, G Art Gallery and Basheer Graphic Books among the building’s draws; Basheer, a design and architecture bookshop on level 4, opened in the early 1990s, according to Seth Lui. A March 2023 count cited in the complex’s Wikipedia entry found 18 art galleries, 10 music schools or shops and 14 printing shops. A first major facelift began in 2013. The art-supply side of the story is told in our history of Art Friend.
Why did art and printing take over from books? This is our reading rather than a documented fact. The customers never really left: students, teachers and designers from the schools and arts institutions of Bras Basah still needed paper, paint, frames and prints, and those are goods people like to see and touch before they buy. The same mix of students, printers and booksellers once sustained Peace Centre on Selegie Road, and the same logic of a specialist cluster in an older strata building built the guitar basement of Peninsula Shopping Centre.
Visiting Bras Basah Complex today
As of October 2026, Bras Basah Complex is still an HDB block, with residents upstairs and a busy commercial podium below. Bras Basah and Bugis MRT stations are both within walking distance, and the National Library at Victoria Street is close by. Most shops set their own hours, and the mix changes, so check before a special trip. Our guide to Singapore’s bookshops, from chains to independents and second-hand dealers covers where else to look.
A Bras Basah Complex timeline
- 1925: Shanghai Book Company is founded; it moves to North Bridge Road in 1929.
- 1934 to 1936: World Book Company is founded and renamed Popular Book Company.
- 1940s to 1960s: Second-hand textbook shops line Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road.
- October 1977: HDB’s plan for the complex is announced, according to press reports.
- 1979: The complex is completed, according to the National Heritage Board.
- 1980: It opens; Popular’s flagship is described as Southeast Asia’s largest bookstore.
- July 1982: The last bookshops leave the old Bras Basah Road shophouses.
- 1980s: Xinyao singers launch and promote albums at the complex.
- 1986: HDB allows tenants to change trades.
- 2008 or 2009: Shanghai Book Company closes (sources differ).
- 2013: The complex’s first major facelift begins.
- 2014: A xinyao reunion draws close to 1,000 fans.
- 2016 and 2023: Kaiming Enterprises and the Music Book Room close.
Questions people ask
When was Bras Basah Complex built?
HDB completed it in 1979, according to the National Heritage Board, and it opened in 1980. Plans were announced in 1977.
Why is Bras Basah Complex called the City of Books?
Because so many bookshops moved in when it opened, among them Popular, Shanghai Book Company, Union Book Company and Youth Book Company. Chinese readers called it 书城, shu cheng.
How big was Popular’s first store at Bras Basah Complex?
About 2,323 square metres over three floors. BiblioAsia notes it was considered the largest bookstore in Southeast Asia when it opened in 1980.
What does xinyao have to do with Bras Basah Complex?
In the 1980s it was a popular venue for xinyao singers to launch and promote their albums, according to the National Heritage Board. A reunion concert there in 2014 drew close to 1,000 fans.
What can you buy at Bras Basah Complex today?
Books and stationery, art materials, framing and printing, and music, along with art galleries. A 2023 count found 18 galleries, 10 music schools or shops and 14 printing shops.
Sources and further reading
- National Heritage Board, Roots: Bras Basah Complex
- National Library Board, BiblioAsia: Postwar Chinese bookstores, by Lee Ching Seng (2023)
- National Library Board, Curiocity: Bras Basah, a place of books
- National Library Board, Infopedia: Bras Basah Road
- Remember Singapore: Bras Basah Complex, Singapore’s City of Books
- Time Out Singapore: Iconic strata malls in Singapore (2021)
- Seth Lui: Old-school malls in Singapore (2026)
- Wikipedia: Bras Basah Complex (for press-report figures from 1977, 1980 and 2023)
This is a historical reference, not a shop directory: tenants, units and opening hours change, so confirm with a shop before you travel. Read next: Popular Bookstore’s history · Peace Centre’s printers and schools · Back to The Memory
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