Vapeboss – Hello vapers! Do any of you often visit Gunung Agung Bookstore to browse and buy books? Reportedly, PT GA Tiga Belas, or more famously known as Gunung Agung Bookstore, announced that it will close all its operational stores by the end of 2023 after 70 years of operation in Indonesia.

The management of Gunung Agung Bookstore stated that they are no longer able to cover the increasing operational losses. Ultimately, the decision to cease operations of Gunung Agung Bookstore was forced upon them as a last resort.

"The store/outlet closures that occurred in 2020 were not our final store/outlet closures, as we plan to close our remaining stores/outlets by the end of 2023. This decision has to be made because we can no longer sustain the growing monthly operational losses," stated the management in their official statement (Monday/22/5/2023).

Furthermore, since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Indonesia, the Director of Gunung Agung Bookstore stated that several of its branches in various cities such as Surabaya, Semarang, Gresik, Magelang, Bogor, Bekasi, and Jakarta have been closed for efficiency purposes.

However, long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Gunung Agung Bookstore had already been implementing business efficiency and effectiveness since 2013. For context, Gunung Agung Bookstore originated from a simple kiosk owned by Tjio Wie Tay in 1953, selling books, newspapers, and magazines under the partnership name Thay San Kongsie in Jakarta.

According to its official website, Tjio Wie Tay, later known as Haji Masagung, then established a new company that published and imported books under the name Firma Gunung Agung, along with the increasingly large and complex business development after Indonesia's independence.

The company continued to grow with the support of poets, writers, intellectuals, and journalists. In the following years, Haji Masagung continued to improve his company, both in standards and quality, making it one of the leading companies in the country.

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