MPH Group Malaysia Sdn Bhd is a

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n group of companies best known for its book

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

ing and online retailing services as well as being involved in the printing, publishing and distribution of books and library services in Malaysia and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Its

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The found ...

chain, ''MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd'', headquartered in

Petaling Jaya Petaling Jaya (), colloquially referred to as "PJ", is a city in Petaling District, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Originally developed as a Satellite city, satellite township for Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, it is part of the G ...

Selangor Selangor ( ; ), also known by the Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the e ...

, has been among the largest in Malaysia after Popular. In 2020 MPH closed many of its bookstores in Malaysia and Singapore and concentrated its efforts on selling books via its online bookstore.Melissa Chan
"End Of A Chapter: Why MPH Bookstores Is Closing Its Last Two Outlets In S'pore"
vulcanpost.com. Retrieved 3 April 2022.R. Loheswar
"Readers reminisce as two MPH bookstores in Klang Valley close on June 6, others may follow suit"
''

Malay Mail The ''Malay Mail'' is an online news portal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the continuation of a print paper which was first published on 1 December 1896 when Kuala Lumpur was the capital of the then new Federated Malay States, making it the ...

'', 3 June 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2022.Nur Haziqah A. Malek
MPH bookstores turn online for better customer's experience
themalaysianreserve.com. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2022.Michael Arnold
Malaysian bookstore chain MPH culling stores in shift online
insideretail.asia. Retrieved 3 April 2022.

History

Captain W.G. Shellabear is recognized as the founder of MPH. In 1890, he established the Amelia Bishop Press in

, publishing

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

literature. The company eventually began publishing secular works as well, changing its name to the American Mission Press in 1893. In the 1900s, Rev. William T. Cherry expanded the organization's activities to printing, publishing, bookselling, and book distribution. He changed the company's name to Methodist Publishing House in 1906, giving rise to the acronym 'MPH', as the company is known today. Beginning in 1906 the firm published the Malay Literature Series. The administration and editor's office of the Methodist Publishing House was located in a two storey Edwardian style building at the corner of

Stamford Road Stamford Road ( Chinese: 史丹福路; ) is a one-way road in Singapore within the planning areas of Downtown Core and Museum. The road continues after the traffic light junction of Nicoll Highway, Esplanade Drive and Raffles Avenue towards Or ...

and Armenian Street in Singapore. Constructed in 1907-08, the building housed a printing press and also served for decades as an MPH bookstore."MPH Building" (entry) in: Wan Meng Hao and Jacqueline Lau,
Heritage Places of Singapore
', Singapore: Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 2009, pages 85-87. Retrieved 3 April 2022.Vernon Cornelius

National Library Board (Singapore), eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 3 April 2022. MPH changed its name in 1927 to the ''Malaya Publishing House'' and in 1963 it was renamed as the ''Malaysia Publishing House'', but throughout the acronym MPH remained. The company also changed ownership multiple times, being acquired by an

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

n consortium Led By Mr Tjio Wie Thay A.k.a Masagung in 1966, then a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

group, Jack Chia-MPH, in 1972 and finally by Singaporean entrepreneur Simon Cheong in 1999. In 2002, Jalinan Inspirasi Sdn Bhd, acquired the company. This was the first time MPH became a wholly Malaysian-owned company.

Bookstores

In early 2019 MPH had 29 bookstores in Malaysia and three in Singapore. It had a heavy presence in the

Klang Valley Klang Valley () is an urban agglomeration in Malaysia that is centered in the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and including their adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor. It is the urban area of the much larger Ku ...

, operating in major shopping outlets including Mid Valley. Its bookstores in Singapore were located at Raffles City, Parkway Parade, and in the SingPost Centre in Paya Lebar. Following a partial lockdown from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and several social media posts alleging the closure of nine MPH stores nationwide including four in the

, MPH staff members confirmed that their outlet in Subang Parade would be closing on 6 June 2020. Following the online speculation, in June 2020 the MPH Group CEO Donald Kee issued a statement outlining "its strategy as a transition into a more e-commerce-focused retail format, consolidating non-performing stores and pooling resources for a digital-business push", as well as deploying "high-tech vending machines placed in strategic locations", and launching a "social interactive e-learning platform". He added that the firm would "maintain its key physical locations".

Online bookstore

MPH branched out into the online book retailing via its MPHOnline.com website in 2000.

References

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External links

Official websiteTriglot Vocabulary (English, Malay, Hokkien, Hakka). Methodist Publishing House, Singapore, 1913
1890 establishments in Singapore Retail companies established in 1890 Publishing companies established in 1890 Book publishing companies of Malaysia Bookstores of Malaysia Privately held companies of Malaysia Malaysian brands