Bookseller Dymocks to close flagship IFC Mall store and Hong Kong office
Closure of flagship IFC store and local office amid rising rents and online competition signals end of bookseller's 15-year presence
Hong Kong's largest English- language bookseller, Dymocks, is to end its 15-year local presence in an industry battered by high rents and shifting reading habits.
The Australian firm will pull out of the IFC Mall in Central this month and shut its local office after the shopping centre operator decided not to renew the lease.
An email from Dymocks to its suppliers gave the closure date of the retail outlet as January 25.
"With the closure of Dymocks IFC Mall, which has generated the majority of the group sales, it is no longer viable for Dymocks to maintain an office here, and the office will close at the end of February," the email said.
That will bring the number of Dymocks stores down to five in Hong Kong, which has hosted the franchise originating from Sydney since 1999. The SCMP Group, publisher of the and , is a minority shareholder in its China operations.
The remaining stores will then operate independently using the Dymocks name before being rebranded individually.
The company told the it would issue a statement this week, while IFC Mall called the non-renewal of the lease a "commercial decision".
