An Unfinished Portrait: Bras Basah Complex

Bras Basah Complex – Singapore’s unofficial Book City. While the buildings and streets in the vicinity have evolved into a modern and bustling commercial district, Bras Basah Complex continues to hold on to its identity as a bastion of book culture. In more recent times demand for books is waning and the veneer of Book City, fading. 

Many of the complex’s tenants have called it quits. Three family-run businesses - a Chinese art supplies business, a design bookstore and a Chinese bookstore – are still hanging on. What will keep them going on?