KUALA LUMPUR: After being closed since June 1, most bookshops in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor are slowly turning the pages to woo customers again.

       Bookshops, together with computer, telecommunication device and stationery shops, were allowed to re-open on July 16 for the duration of the National Recovery Plan.

       Buku Fixi’s #CucukBersamaFixi free book initiative, which offers vaccinated customers a free book at the Sunway Putra Mall in KL and Setia Alam, Selangor, in fact started on May 11.

       Now that Kedai Fixi shops have reopened, its free book campaign has resumed in earnest.

       “We were consistently giving out 30 to 50 books per day, both before and after the lockdown. We are happy to do our bit to encourage vaccination,” said Buku Fixi founder Amir Muhammad. The #CucukBersamaFixi programme will run until Aug 31.

       Tintabudi founder Nazir Harith Fadzilah said last weekend was great as they not only had familiar faces visit the KL shop, newcomers came, too.

       “It is really nice to have customers in the shop again. We don’t have much space here, so we limit them to a maximum of five at any one time. As a safety measure, we also leave the windows and doors open for better ventilation,” said Nazir.

       The Bibliophile bookshop in Petaling Jaya is also open, but founder Kiridaren Jayakumar wants to stay safe by allowing only fully vaccinated customers to walk in.

       “I have been receiving messages from customers who are keen to come to the bookshop, so I made the decision to open it to people who have been vaccinated. We had several senior citizens who received their two doses come to the bookstore recently,” he said.

       Books Kinokuniya Malaysia, one of KL’s major mainstream bookshops, has reopened with a temporary change in business hours, from noon to 6pm daily until further notice.

       “To ensure our customers maintain appropriate social distancing, we limit the number of customers allowed in,” it stated in a Facebook post.

       However, GerakBudaya and Lit Books in Petaling Jaya remain closed.

       “For our team’s wellbeing, our PJ bookstore remains closed until further notice. If it is within your power, please stay at home,” GerakBudaya said in a statement, encouraging customers to visit its online shop.

       For indie bookshop Lit Books, it will concentrate on its online business until the pandemic situation improves.

       “As for a timeline to our reopening, ideally, we would like to do so when we see firm evidence of a decline in the number of new cases. Even then, our opening hours may be limited or we may impose restrictions such as requiring appointments for walk-in customers. Updates on our opening hours and policies will be shared on our social media platforms and website,” said Fong Min Hun, Lit Books co-founder.