“Although it is on the 10th floor, the store space is very much like the one in Hong Kong,” Lam said, adding that he has signed the lease and paid rent, and the store is being decorated, including with custom-made bookshelves. The store would likely open after the Lunar New Year holiday ends on Jan. 29, he said. Lam was one of five Causeway Bay Books shareholders and staff members who disappeared into Chinese custody at the end of 2015. He was released on bail and allowed to return to Hong Kong in June 2016 to retrieve a hard drive with a list of the bookstore’s customers on it. The bill has since been scrapped in the wake of mass protests that have developed into a pro-democracy movement.
