As Hong Kong’s premier bookstore chain, Bookazine has grown to become a beloved destination for book lovers with its curated collections and commitment to supporting the local literary community
Arti Mirchandani’s parents founded Bookazine in 1985, with their first shop in the Hopewell Centre. Her father, Mohan, came from a family of booksellers and started selling books at the age of 18. In 2002, Arti and her sister Shonee Mirchandani joined the business, and ultimately took over the reins after Mohan passed away the following year. Today, the family has expanded the business to six stores in Hong Kong. Mirchandani sits down with Tatler and reveals childhood memories at the shop, her favourite book and her dreams of opening a “megastore with a café”.
As a child, I vividly recall spending time at the stores with my mum after school. She would take me to Maxim’s for a sausage bun or Oliver’s for a sandwich. I’d then sit in the back office or stockroom— which at the time I thought was super cool—and do my homework until closing time, when Dad would pick us up. We remain a hands-on, family-driven business, making decisions together.
Mirchandani with her father Mohan on her birthday in 1983 (Photo: courtesy of Arti Mirchandani)
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When I returned to Hong Kong after studying fine arts at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, I initially planned to pursue a teaching certificate in the UK. However, fate intervened. My sister had just returned from the UK and announced that she was joining the company, so I thought I would join too, until the time came for me to send in my application. One of the big projects we worked on as a family was redesigning our flagship store in The Landmark to a much larger space, and I got so engrossed that I missed the application deadline. In hindsight, it was all for the best, especially since our dad passed away a year later in 2003.
We have faced a lot of challenges and changes over the past 40 years, but being a small, family-run business, we are able to adapt and change quickly with the times. We saw a drop in physical book sales when e-readers first launched, but I feel like most people have come back to physical books. During that time, we focused on children’s books, which is still a strong category in Hong Kong. Adapting to changing times is just part of our job.
