Ana Book Store

Last updated

The Ana Book Store is a second-hand bookstore in stall 1, floor 5 of Far East Plaza, 14 Scots Road, Singapore. The store is owned by a 70-year-old Bengali man named Mohammad Noorul Islam. It is the last second-hand bookstore in Orchard Road. [1] [2] [3] [4] The name, Ana, came from the owner's mother, Sultana. [1]

History

The original store, known as the Modern Book Store, was founded in 1939 by M. Mohammad Aksir, who came from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1938. He set up the store on Singapore’s Bras Basah Road. In 1978, M. Mohammad Aksir and his father died, leaving Aksir's son, Mohammad Noorul Islam, to run the store. Noorul Islam later changed the bookstore's name to the Ana Book Store. In 1993, when the building housing the original shop was destroyed, the store was moved to Far East Plaza. Customers called Noorul Islam the "Mr Bean of Singapore", something that local newspapers caught on to, providing more publicity for the shop. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

Yaohan Co., Ltd. or Yaohan; Chinese: 八佰伴) was a Japanese retail group, founded in 1930 by Ryohei Wada and his wife Katsu Wada. Initially a single shop, it was expanded by their son Kazuo Wada into a major supermarket chain with most retail outlets located in Shizuoka prefecture, south of Tokyo. It was incorporated in 1948 and listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange. The store was far more established and notable outside Japan, due to restrictive laws in Japan that made it difficult to set up new businesses, such that by the time it opened its first store in the Tokyo metropolitan area, the company was already in a state of decline due to accumulated debts from over-expansion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orchard Road</span> Planning Area in Central Region, Central Area, Singapore

Orchard Road, often known colloquially as simply Orchard, is a major 2.5 km (1.6 mi)-long road in the Central Area of Singapore. A famous tourist attraction, it is an upscale shopping area, with numerous internationally renowned department stores, shopping malls, restaurants, and coffeehouses located in its vicinity. It's a popular hotspot in Singapore, especially at night, attracting trendy urban youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dhoby Ghaut MRT station</span> Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore

Dhoby Ghaut MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North South, North East and Circle lines in Singapore. Located beneath the eastern end of Orchard Road shopping belt in Dhoby Ghaut, Museum Planning Area, the station is integrated with the commercial development The Atrium@Orchard. The station is near landmarks such as The Istana, the MacDonald House, Plaza Singapura and Dhoby Ghaut Green.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngee Ann City</span> Shopping mall in Singapore

Ngee Ann City is a shopping and commercial centre located on Orchard Road, Singapore. The S$520 million building was officially opened on 21 September 1993 by then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Books Kinokuniya</span> Japanese bookstore chain

Books Kinokuniya is a Japanese bookstore chain operated by Kinokuniya Company Ltd., founded in 1927, with its first store located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Its name translates to "Bookstore of Kii Province". The company has its headquarters in Meguro, Tokyo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheelock Place</span> Shopping mall in Orchard, Singapore

Wheelock Place, is a 21-floor office tower and shopping mall on Singapore's Orchard Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orchard MRT station</span> Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore

Orchard MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station in Singapore, on the North South (NSL) and Thomson–East Coast (TEL) lines. Situated along Orchard Boulevard and underneath ION Orchard, the station serves various commercial and retail developments of the Orchard Road shopping district, including Liat Towers, Ngee Ann City, Wheelock Place, Wisma Atria and Shaw House, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somerset MRT station</span> Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore

Somerset MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the North–South Line in Orchard, Singapore. It is one of the three stations located along the popular shopping belt, Orchard Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parkway Parade</span> Shopping mall in Marine Parade, Singapore

Parkway Parade is a suburban shopping centre in Marine Parade, Singapore. Officially opened in March 1984, it has a 22-floor office tower and a seven-storey shopping mall with a basement. Developed by Parkway Holdings, the company sold the building to Asia Pacific Investment Company in 2000. The mall is managed by Lendlease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raffles City Singapore</span> Office, hotel, shopping complex in Downtown Core, Singapore

Raffles City is a large complex located in the Civic District within the Downtown Core of the city-state of Singapore. Occupying an entire city block bounded by Stamford Road, Beach Road, Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road, it houses two hotels and an office tower over a podium which contains a shopping complex and a convention centre. The mall is managed by CapitaCommercial Trust and CapitaMall Trust. It was completed in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucky Plaza</span> Shopping mall in Orchard, Singapore

Lucky Plaza is a shopping centre located in Orchard in Singapore. Built by developer Far East Organization, Lucky Plaza was completed in 1981 and has proven to be one of the most successful shopping centres in Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Centrepoint</span> Shopping mall in Singapore

The Centrepoint is a shopping mall in Singapore which opened in 1983 as Centrepoint Shopping Centre until its renaming in 2006 as The Centrepoint.

Ng Teng Fong was a Singaporean real estate tycoon with a major presence in Hong Kong. He is the father of Robert Ng. In 1997, Forbes listed the two as the 30th richest people in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanglin</span> Planning area in Central Region, Singapore

Tanglin is a planning area located within the Central Region of Singapore. Tanglin is located west of Newton, Orchard, River Valley and Singapore River, south of Novena, east of Bukit Timah, northeast of Queenstown and north of Bukit Merah.

Metro is an Indonesia based chain department store selling cosmetics, apparel and fashion accessories. Founded by Ong Tjoe Kim in 1953, Metro currently has 12 outlets located across Indonesia and 2 in Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Far East Plaza</span> Shopping mall in Scotts Road, Singapore

Far East Plaza is a shopping centre in Singapore, located in the heart of the Orchard Road shopping belt at Scotts Road. It opened in 1982, with main anchor Metro departmental store opening in 1983. Metro had since closed down in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Far East Organization</span> Real estate developer in Singapore

Far East Organization is the largest private real estate developer in Singapore. Founded in 1960 by Ng Teng Fong, the company has businesses in property development, retail, hospitality, and food and beverage brands in Asia and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoking in Singapore</span>

Smoking in Singapore is subjected to restrictions enacted through various legislations such as the Smoking Act, which was first enacted in 1970.

Thomson Plaza, formerly unofficially called Thomson Yaohan, is a suburban shopping mall located along Upper Thomson Road, in Singapore. Opened in 1979, Thomson Plaza is best known for having a Yaohan departmental store in the 1980s and 1990s.

BooksActually was an independent bookstore that operated online. It was formerly located in Singapore's Tiong Bahru district till 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 "This 70-year-old S'porean runs the last 2nd-hand bookstore in Orchard Rd, ministers & judges among customers". mothership.sg. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  2. ↑ Team, The Must Share News (2019-08-15). "Ana Book Store Sells Secondhand Books Below $10; Elderly Man Runs It Alone At Far East Plaza". Must Share News - Independent News For Singaporeans. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  3. ↑ "30-year-old secondhand book store survives against the odds". The Business Times. 2022-04-13. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  4. ↑ Li, Toh Wen (2022-04-23). "A tale of two bookstores: Born in a bookshop, he keeps it going today". The Straits Times. ISSN   0585-3923 . Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  5. ↑ The Secondhand Book Seller | On The Red Dot. 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2024-06-29– via YouTube.
  6. ↑ Boon Lai, Hali (1997-11-03). "eresources.nlb.gov.sg". The Straits Times . p. 4. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
Flag of Singapore.svg

This Singapore-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.