再見辰衝圖書 bye bye swindon

辰衝圖書關閉尖沙嘴樂道門市的消息來得很突然。雖然我讀過其中一間中學嘅開學書單由它負責，但這麼多年來都沒有幫襯過。行過時吱吱聲嘅柚木地板，二樓少人行，放滿超厚法律、醫科等教科書嘅部門，中間加插九十年代英國出版嘅gsce或a-level教科書，地下嗰層好多用英文寫東方、寫亞洲、寫神州大地、寫香港嘅書籍、林林總總嘅英文雜誌……這一切代表呢間唔識英文就唔會嚟嘅圖書公司，係一片相機閃光燈聲、講廣東話嘅稀客交頭接耳聲下落幕了。畢竟這不是長唔大、外來插旗嘅dymocks 或 page one 執笠。辰衝嗰種舊時代、“串串供”生意和顧客嘅退場，又少不免令到不中不西嘅香港文化買少見少。

the sad norm in hong kong these days must be the farewells that don’t go away. swindon / hong kong book centre announced the closure of their lock road, tsim sha tsui location at the end of july 2020. i got wind of this adios no more than 10 days before the end of month. my friend and i went there twice on the final two days. i didn’t buy anything on the first day while my friend picked up three books for hk$30 each. during the final hours of that brick and mortar branch many curious hongkongers came along with their usual cameras. even though i visited this bookstore many times over the years, this was the first and last time i bought something from the lock road location. technically i was freeloading on the offer of buy one get one of lesser value, since my pal again bought two picture intensive travelog publications. as for me, i got a (timely) regis philbin biography (dated time warner or the like published gossipy grand central commuter magazine kiosk type, just so you know), a collection of poetry, a historical account of san francisco earthquake, a dated primer on psychology/(machine) learning/(artificial) intelligence, etc. swindon had always been a stuck up business, with dictionary thick law and medical textbooks, even heavier and broad shouldered hardcover design and architectual books and it was the retail agent for a number of elite local schools. another marker of the bygone years’ final curtain call.

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