TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Online bookstores open physical branches amid pandemic sales boom
During the pandemic, online bookshops have helped people feel connected to the outside world.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Book bundle: A recent Buku Seni Rupa collection that was released during pandemic. (JP/Firdaus Akmal) (JP/Firdaus Akmal)
During the pandemic, online bookshops have helped people feel connected to the outside world.
Piles of neatly wrapped books are regularly seen on the terrace of Buku Akik, ready to be delivered by couriers. Inside the building, a room is filled with rows of tall bookshelves packed from top to bottom. Visitors browse through the collection, looking for titles that interest them. This is the daily scene at the shop.
"We recently opened an offline store. Before, we operated fully online," said Tomi Wibisono, Buku Akik’s founder.
The shop is one of a growing number of physical bookstores in Indonesia that began exclusively online.
Previously selling books only through Instagram and e-marketplaces, Buku Akik has now been able to open a physical store in Ngaglik, Yogyakarta.
"In 2014, the akik [gemstone] collecting trend swept Indonesia. People glorify gemstones, but we believe books are way more precious than gemstones. That's why we [named our store] Buku Akik. At that time, there weren't many online bookshops besides us,” said Tomi.
More from The Weekender
Jakarta’s padel moment
From FOMO to full-blown obsession, padel has captured the city. What comes next may depend less on courts and more on the communities that grow around them.
The battle over memory
And why the government’s plan to rewrite its history books should alarm us all.
Are younger workers getting something right about work?
As micro-retirements gain traction, Gen Z and young millennials are challenging traditional ideas of ambition, success and when it’s okay to pause.
