Tsutaya Books says it has begun wrapping its books with clear film, after finding that many books on its shelves were intentionally damaged by customers.
The bookstore explains that its staff has found mountains of books that have pages ripped and covers torn.
The store, located in Pavilion Bukit Jalil, says there are also children’s pop-up books that no longer “pop-up”.
“As book lovers, it really saddens us to do this but we have had no choice,” it said in a social media post.
“We would love nothing more than to go back to how it was when we first opened – shelves lined neatly with books as they are. What a beautiful sight that was.”
It adds that it hopes to be able to restore that tradition. Though we are not a library, our societal role as a bookstore is to encourage reading and promote literacy.”
Tsutaya says, for now, customers who wish to flip through a book that has been sealed can ask for assistance from sales associates.
“For those with itchy hands who can’t see nice, brand new things, please stop defacing what does not belong to you. It’s simply unkind,” it says.
“With your help, we do hope to free our books of being imprisoned in plastic (cringe) wrapping.”
