After six years, The Papersmith, an independent magazine shop in Bangkok's Gaysorn Village, will close its doors by the end of this month due to a lease expiry.
The store features over 400 foreign magazines covering arts and lifestyle. On its Facebook page, it said it wants to prove that "magazines are not dead yet". Sales were satisfactory, but the coronavirus pandemic necessitates "merging for better operation and turnover".
Next month, it will move the magazines to The Booksmith on Nimmanhaemin Road in Chiang Mai and increase the number to pre-pandemic levels because they still sell well. It is under the helm of Sirote Jiraprayoon, a former executive for Asiabooks.
The Papersmith also collaborated with Ploy Chariyaves, an artist and writer, on the Guest Bookseller Project in which she oversaw every step of bookselling in 2018 and 2021.
It is not the first bookstore to close down this year. After almost three decades, Naiin's bookstore in Tha Pra Chan ceased operations at the end of March due to the economic impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Visit the website: thebooksmith.co.th.
