BookXcess Kong Heng Ipoh — Attraction in Perak

Let's talk parking first. Finding a parking spot conveniently within reach from this bookstore can be a hurdle. Hence, do plan your journey ahead. Street parking spots are available but limited. There is a private parking lot nearby but you have to pay to secure your car there.

Fun fact, before BookXcess took over the space, it was a bank, hence you can still access the underground vaults which house various fiction subjects. This is possibly the coolest feature bout this bookshop.

As soon as you enter the store, you're greeted with the first out of many levels, which sells plenty of fiction masterpieces. Non-fiction books are located on the top floor of this mutil-storey bookstore.

Their books are kept pristine and most of them are protected with shrink-wrap. I noticed that there was a handful of books that had signs of foxing but the books are still in good condition.

If you're a non-fiction reader, don't expect the most recent bestsellers to show up here. During your visit here, you'll discover that they sell bestsellers from several years ago.

I cannot really give this bookstore the 5th and final star because of a several things. First, they don't have clear signs telling you where different genres of books are located inside the building. I spent a few minutes upon reaching the top floor before realising that I've reached where I wanted to go. Second, the shelves could use more visible labelling to indicate to shoppers that this shelf is insert subject, the shelf beside it is insert another subject, and the books situated on the island is insert third subject books.

There is no dedicated seating areas for you to test read the books. So you're going to have to do so standing up. Ventilation here ain't that great because when I stuck around, I felt warm the whole time.

Besides that, I don't think I saw a lift when I was wandering around. That said, I believe this place is not kind to wheelchair-riddens.

Overall, they have a large collection of fiction and non-fiction books, ranging from young adult to classic philosophy. The space is huge, clean and brightly lit, but as someone who labels his bookshelf according to genre, I cannot get past the fact that this BookXcess store does not have a directory that can help point customers to the right floor and shelf, and in the...

BookXcess Kong Heng is a bookstore. In my opinion, It is the most hipster book store in Malaysia.

The reason is simple. This place used to house the now defunct United Asian Bank back in the 80's.

Strategically located at Kong Heng Square on Jalan Sultan Yussuf (Belfield Street), in which the popular concubine lane is just 300 meter away on the other street, this bookstore houses good collection of books and rare comics.

The former bank vault is turned into a unique, hipster book room with the safe boxes turned into makeshift bookrack.

My only qualms with this place is people come here to take photo rather than indulge in some of rarest comics one could find in Malaysia bookstores. As such, its is always packed with people taking photos and this take away when you're trying to mesmerise yourself with the book collection.

Parking is a problem but just stone throw away there's ample council parking by the roadside and there's even a private parking (which is bloody expensive - RM5 for 1st hour and RM1 for subsequent hour...

It's a nice book shop place in Ipoh where there's an underground section. You would think it's like an S&M place but it's not. 😂 The underground place is pretty interesting, they have several separate rooms with steel bars as the door and deposit boxes with books decorated and placed around it, it's possible the place used to be a bank and the steel cabinets are the safe deposit box that people used to keep their important belongings in it like gold, diamonds, etc. Otherwise they wouldn't have so many steel bar doors haha.

Oh they also have a section where it's dedicated to the late Yasmin Ahmad, the famous director who directs good tv commercials and movies back in the day. Some people would say the topics that she tackled was controversial but I think they're important topics that speaks about diversity and the importance of toleration of one another in a multiracial and multicultural country.

Overall, it's a nice place to visit and see some books and who knows you might find something in there that you'd want to...