An MPH bookstore in Johor Baru

It is Day 81 of the Movement Control Order (MCO), a lockdown happening throughout the nation that evolved into the Conditional Movement Control (CMCO), which is still in place until June 9.

Facade if the MPH bookstore in Johor Baru City Square

With the various forms of lockdowns in force, cities around the world ground to a halt as people cooperated to stay at home to stay safe as the vicious coronavirus, dubbed Covid19, wreaked havoc among patients and stretched healthcare systems.

With restrictions in travel and strict limits set for grocery or food shopping, the mood was both somber and stressful.

For a while, the novelty of staying home was fun but as the weeks turned into months, people who were working-from-home (WFH) noticed that in spite of a more relaxed work environment, they were working for longer hours than ever before!

With the MPH team at JB City Square bookstore
for my Meet-the-Readers event held there

Midway through the MCO, merchants started to actively promote their products online and it ranged from food and beverage, to festive clothes and of course, books.

In addition to completing home improvement projects, playing computer games, watching cable television and cooking/baking for the family, the MCO was an excellent opportunity to catch up on some reading.

As offices and businesses started to open in stages, we are reading reports about how many are struggling to survive the economic fallout due to the virus pandemic and subsequent lockdown.

Then a few days ago, my aunty who lives in USJ and frequents Subang Parade, alerted me to the news that the MPH Bookstore there, was closing its doors.

A display of My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places
and Inspirational People in a MPH bookstore

If she were browsing around this bookstore, she would not fail to check out the Non-Fiction section to see if my books were on the shelf and often snapped a photograph to share with me.

This photo would show the books on the shelf and if necessary, I could get in touch with MPH to alert them to restock the books and keep them available for sale.

As I read more news reports that confirmed that MPH was closing bookstores in the Klang Valley as well as in Johor Baru, I was overwhelmed by a bittersweet feeling.

People are finding other ways to buy and read books, so bookstores everywhere are seeing a decline in income and this downward trend was further aggravated by the MCO.

Another shot with MPH team at JB City Square bookstore

Then I learnt that in Johor Baru, the MPH bookstores in Johor Baru City Square and the Mall in Taman Universiti would be closed while only one MPH bookstore will remain opened at the Aero Mall, linked to the Senai International Airport.

In 2017, I was privileged to partner with MPH to publish, My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage, a title which went to the No. One spot in the MPH Non-Fiction Bestsellers list in the first week of its launch in mid-July.

Over the next few months, this title stayed steadily on the MPH Non-Fiction Bestsellers list and at the end of the year, it was counted among The Best of MPH books in 2017.

With the strong partnership of MPH Publishing and Think City Johor Baru, I was encouraged to work on a sequel and in 2018, My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People, was published.

At MPH bookstore at 1Utama Kuala Lumpur with
my friends for the Meet-the-Readers event held there

Book Two features more Memories with exciting details in my grandfather stories, Portraits of inspirational people in various Johor towns and established brands and household names of Heritage Traders who are still doing the business started by their forefathers.

I believe the local flavour of My Johor Stories strikes a familiar chord among readers who care about a bygone era and who treasure the past as we move into the future.

Some hotels and resorts understand that guests enjoy staying in a place with a story and they placed my books in their rooms and suites for the guests’ reading pleasure.

Christopher Ling at the JB City Square bookstore

I was both honoured and delighted when Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) obtained hard-cover versions of my two books to present to their Board of Directors and as corporate premium gifts.

So, this closure of MPH bookstores deeply saddens me because some of my fondest memories happened at the MPH bookstores in JB City Square and IUtama in Kuala Lumpur, where my Meet-the-Readers events were held.

MPH also supported me by providing their retail teams who set up book sale tables at various events both in JB and in KL, where I introduced My Johor Stories in talks and presentations.

They made sure my books were readily available for the audience to get their own copies soon after my presentation and they could even have them autographed!

At JB City Square bookstore with [L to R]
visitors Catherine, Peter Cheong and Pat

With the new-normal practices of physical distancing among other Standard Operating Procedures, these experiences in Meeting-the-Readers and talks or presentations to a gathered audience, seem to be relegated to precious memories from the past.

From old photos and blog posts, I am able to reflect on my experiences with MPH and their bookstores and fondly recall the times I brought friends to the bookstore in JB City Square to get copies of my books.

The most recent visits in 2019 were in October with Christopher Ling, Artistic Director of Theatrethreesixty, and in December with Peter Cheong and his daughter, Catherine, who were visiting from Canada, each time as the final stop at the end of our heritage walk and food trail in JB.

My mother [seated on wheelchair] at the MPH bookstore
in Aero Mall, Senai International Airport, Johor

While I am saddened to see the closure of physical bookstores, I am encouraged that readers are still buying from virtual bookstores and that there is still an MPH bookstore at Aero Mall, next to the Senai International Airport in JB.

Even with the closure of physical bookstores, readers can still visit the MPH virtual bookstore to get my books from www.mphonline.com, from MPH bookstores nationwide and other good bookstores in the capital city.

It will certainly take more time before the CMCO restrictions are relaxed and for now, no one can be sure if things would ever be like it was before.

As we adjust and adapt to the new-norm, our past experiences are now treasured memories and in many situations, possibly already a thing of the past.

This just spurs me on to document more My Johor Stories for posterity.