KUALA LUMPUR: Defaced books, missing covers and torn pages force Tsutaya Books to seal their books in clear plastic wraps.
In a Facebook post, the bookstore stated that its staff had found mountains of books that had been intentionally damaged - with pages ripped, covers torn, and children's pop-up books that no longer "pop-up".
"Thus, from now on, should one wish to flip through a book that's been sealed, they should ask the sales associates to assist them.
"They'd be happy to do so. Do handle books with care.
"For those with itchy hands who can't see nice, brand new things, please stop defacing what does not belong to you. It's simply unkind," it wrote.
The bookstore also recalled how things were in the early days when Tsutaya Books started its operations in Malaysia.
Customers could grab any book off the shelves and flip through the pages before purchasing. They could also sit down to read the books at the store.
"If you've had the opportunity to visit Tsutaya Books in Japan, though each store's design is unique, you would have observed that books are unwrapped and nestled on shelves waiting to be flipped through, purchased and taken to their new homes.
"This was our vision here, too, for our first store in Southeast Asia, but over time one may notice that more and more books are now wrapped with transparent film.
"It's both sad and disappointing. We would love nothing more than to go back to how it was when we first opened - shelves lined neatly with books as they are. What a beautiful sight that was," it said, hoping to restore the tradition.
Though it was not a library, it said its societal role as a bookstore was to encourage reading and promote literacy.
Tsutaya Books also said with the reader's help, it hoped to free its books from their plastic "prison" wraps.
"Not just at our bookstore, but at all bookstores - and libraries too, for that matter," it wrote in the Facebook post.