Around the block · Bain Street · Bras Basah
The Bras Basah bookshop that began with a suitcase
Before Basheer Graphic Books had shelves, its founder took design books to his customers. Today the books have an address on the fourth floor of Bras Basah Complex.
Basheer Ahamed sold books door to door, carrying titles on art, design and architecture in a suitcase. For the creative studios he visited, browsing meant opening that case. The family later opened a shop in Bras Basah Complex, the HDB development on Bain Street that readers came to know as the City of Books.
Inside the shop
The shelves give you a sense of who comes looking. There are books on typography for someone shaping a page, architecture for someone drawing a building, and animation or photography for someone working with images. The shop also carries specialist magazines.
Basheer’s book selection National Heritage Board profile Bras Basah Complex shop listing