Book lovers will love this: Kinokuniya chain opens location at Yangon airport

One of the pleasures of flying is perusing the airport bookstore before the flight.

Besides killing time, the activity gives you an excuse to buy something different or make an impulse purchase.

“Yes, it’s been a while since I read Popular Science magazine,” you might say, flipping through the latest issue. Or maybe you’ll be attracted by the tome from the Norwegian writer that everyone keeps talking about but no one seems to have read. “Hmmm, think I’ll see what all this Karl Ove Knausgaard fuss is about.”

But until Yangon’s new international terminal opened this year, travellers had little in the way of book-buying options. There was a Monument Books in the old terminal, but its shelves were poorly stocked, and new releases it had not.

Along comes Japanese book giant Kinokuniya, which has opened in the new terminal with a wide selection of new releases. Many aren’t even available at bookstores in Yangon itself.

Kinokuniya has several stores in nearby Thailand, but this seems to be its first in Myanmar.

There is also another bookstore on the ground floor that we believe you can access without going through immigration, creating the weird opportunity of being able to head to airport in your free time to shop for new releases.

Next up: how about a location in downtown Yangon?

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