Milestones
1924
POPULAR's history began in Singapore, under the trade name Cheng Hing Company. It distributed Chinese storybooks and picture books, an early start of what is now the present POPULAR Group.
1934
World Book Company was established in Singapore to distribute Chinese books and publish Chinese magazines and books. It was widely recognized as one of the leading Chinese book publishers, retailers and distributors in Singapore and Malaysia.
1936
Popular Book Company was established in Singapore as a retail channel for Chinese books.
1949
World Publishing Company was established in Hong Kong, China to publish magazines and Chinese books for the local and Southeast Asian markets.
1980
POPULAR's flagship store opened at Bras Basah Complex. It marked POPULAR’s successful transformation into a bilingual bookstore. Today, POPULAR is the largest bookstore chain in Southeast Asia with over 100 retail stores in Singapore and Malaysia.
1990
The POPULAR loyalty card was introduced as part of its membership programme.
1996
Educational Publishing House (“EPH”) set up offices in Singapore, to publish textbooks and teaching materials for preschool and primary markets. Today, EPH is a dominant player and respected publisher of quality educational books, especially in terms of preschool and assessment titles.
2001
Popular e-Learning Holdings Pte Ltd was incorporated in Singapore to provide content-rich, digital educational products and online services.
2006
POPULAR Bookstore successfully organised the inaugural BookFest@Singapore and BookFest@Malaysia, followed by BookFest@Hong Kong in 2008. Today, the annual BookFest has become a major annual event of the book industries in Singapore and Malaysia.
2011
Popular Holdings Limited was ranked as a 'Singapore International 100 Company'.
2013
POPULAR Bookstore acquired the American multinational book and music retailer, Borders, and renamed it POPULAR.
2021
POPULAR Bookstore launched its wholly-owned e-commerce business, POPULAR Online — a step forward in its endeavour to become an omni-channel retailer.