BooksActually Suddenly ‘Disappeared’ With Books in Trash Pile Outside Its Shopfront

By
Chloe Tan
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Last Updated on 2022-12-26 , 1:19 pm

After a year, it seems like almost everyone has forgotten about BooksActually.

And it seems like Kenny Leck has also forgotten about his promise to hand over ownership of the store to his employees, because he’s still listed as the director of the company.

Unfortunately for him, we didn’t forget. Here’s a recap of the BooksActually saga, and what has happened since then.

Accused of Harassing Employees, Not Giving Breaks and Pay

Back in October 2021, the founder of BooksActually, Kenny Leck, was embroiled in a huge scandal that tainted his name in the Singaporean literature community.

He was accused of only hiring girls to work at his bookstore and harassing them. He was also accused of making his employees work long hours without breaks, and not paying his employees on time.

His ex-wife Renee Ting also spoke out, saying that when they were dating and married, she worked and lived in the store, had no days off, and received no pay.

Of course, Leck denied all allegations. In an attempt to save his image, he said that he would transfer ownership of BooksActually to his five employees.

The Facebook post of him announcing that he would transfer the ownership of BookActually has either been deleted or set to private.

Store ‘Disappeared’ Both Online and Offline

So, what’s up with the shop now?

The physical store at Upper Weld Road had a sign claiming that “reinstatement work” was in progress, but was removed on 23 December 2022.

Contractors speaking to The Straits Times said that works have been in progress for the past three weeks. This includes clearing out inventory in the store, leading to books being stacked with other trash like furniture near the shop.

The contractors also revealed that BooksActually’s staff had postponed meetings with contractors thrice in the past week.

On the online front, BooksActually’s website has been down since November, right after their huge sales offering 35 to 44% off all purchases.

Their social media has also been inactive since 17 November.

Prior to that, their social media platforms have been extremely active, with posts almost every few hours—kind of like Ho Ching’s Facebook account.

Some may think that this means the store is finally dealing with the transfer of ownership that was promised by Leck, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

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Because we did a bit of digging and well, Kenny could’ve forgotten that public records don’t lie.

Still The Director Of BooksActually

In the name of investigative journalism, we bought the business profile of BooksActually.

As of 24 December 2022, over a year after the saga, it still says that Leck is the director of the company. Well, anyone can be the director, so who still holds the shares?

He still holds half the shares of the company—which is similar to what it was last year.

This means that the ownership hasn’t been transferred yet.

This saga is also one of the top sagas in 2021 based on our data. YOu can watch this video to know more:

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Featured Image: The Straits Times

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Chloe Tan
Email: [email protected]