> Quick view: POPULAR's Super Holiday Promotion runs 28 August to 16 September 2026 at all 80 POPULAR / HARRIS bookstores in Malaysia. The headline is "Bestsellers! Save up to 25%", but the thing worth acting on is the second price column: a large share of the flyer prints a public price and a lower member price, and on one CD the gap is RM19.90. A one-year POPULAR Card costs RM12. Members also get a one-time 20% storewide gift certificate valid to 27 September 2026, which pays for the card at RM60 of spend. One panel of the flyer, marked "Only in Aug 2026", has already expired.

What is actually live right now

POPULAR keeps one page that tells you what it is running: its Ongoing Promotions hub. Re-read on 5 September 2026, it lists ten campaigns and twelve roadshow bookfairs — but only five of those campaigns and nine of those fairs are still running. POPULAR does not delist an expired entry, so the hub proves what is dead only by omission, never by what it shows. Four of the five live nationwide campaigns matter for a normal shopping trip:

  • Super Holiday Promotion, 28 August to 16 September 2026, all POPULAR / HARRIS bookstores. This is the main sale and the subject of this article.
  • POPClub Promotion, 28 August to 27 September 2026, all bookstores and POPULAR ONLINE. This is the members' 20% storewide gift certificate.
  • Comic Carnival 6.0, 1 August to 30 September 2026, all bookstores.
  • Self-Help Promotion, 1 August to 30 September 2026, all bookstores.

Four things on that hub are already over even though they are still listed. The Big Sale (28 to 31 August, 43 selected stores, 20% storewide for everybody with no card needed) ended on 31 August. Refuel, Relax, Refresh! closed on 9 August and Fiction Carnival 5.0 on 31 July, and both were still sitting on the page on 5 September. The WOW! Deals block is filed as "August 2026", and POPULAR's own Super Holiday artwork settles it: the WOW! panel inside the flyer is stamped "Only in Aug 2026". So if you saved a screenshot of that flyer, the 思路，决定你的出路 at RM23.00, the *The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue* bundle at RM51.90 with a free four-piece Pentel gel pen set, and *KASAR II* at RM36.00 are no longer part of the offer. Everything else on the same artwork still is.

The member column is the real sale

Read the flyer line by line and a pattern appears that no aggregator reports: POPULAR is running two price lists at once. Some items are a flat nett price for everyone. Many others print "Now Rebate: 10%" next to "Member Rebate: 25%", or a nett price with a lower Member figure underneath.

That second column is where the money is. The table above prices twelve of them. The widest single-item gap on the flyer is the aespa *Lemonade* CD: a 10% public rebate against a 20% member rebate, which on the RM199.00 top of its price range is RM179.10 versus RM159.20, a difference of RM19.90. The Chinese business title 巴菲特的人生之道 is next at RM72.00 versus RM60.00, a clean RM12.00, which is the exact price of a one-year card.

The pattern is strongest on non-book categories. The POP Bazic desktop calculator goes from a 10% public rebate to a 30% member rebate, the Coca-Cola gel pen from 10% to 30%, and the ELSKA FUNISM Pokemon blind box from 30% to 40%. On stationery the member column is often three times the public one.

A worked basket

Take a plausible back-to-school run, six items, all from POPULAR's own flyer:

  • STAEDTLER 133 2B pencils, box of 12: public RM4.50, member RM4.50
  • POP Artz A5 sketch book 125g 60's: public RM5.00, member RM5.00
  • PLUS MR correction tape with 3 refills: public RM13.90, member RM12.90
  • PILOT Kire-Na twin tip highlighter, 5 colours: public RM22.05, member RM18.38
  • POP Bazic desktop calculator, 12 digits: public RM31.41, member RM24.43
  • UV umbrella: public RM29.90, member RM25.90

Total: RM106.76 at public prices, RM91.11 as a member.

The member pays RM15.65 less on the same six items. A one-year POPULAR Card is RM12, so this single trip clears the card and leaves RM3.65 over, before the 20% certificate is even used. Note the first two lines: nett-priced items are identical for both, which is exactly why a basket of only nett items would show no advantage at all.

The 20% certificate, and the RM60 line

The bigger member perk is separate from the flyer prices. POPULAR's campaign banner shows a 20% Gift Certificate, storewide on books and stationery, valid from 28 August to 27 September, to be shown either physically or through the POPULAR MY app. The flyer's own footnote adds the limit that matters: one (1) redemption per member, on presentation of your membership card at payment.

One use only changes how you should spend it. RM12 divided by 20% is RM60, so a single receipt of RM60 or more pays for a one-year card on that certificate alone. But because so much of the Super Holiday range is already marked *nett*, and POPULAR treats nett-priced items as a separate class elsewhere in the same flyer, the certificate is most likely to work hardest on regular-priced stock: a full-price reference book, a textbook set, a big stationery restock. POPULAR has not published an exclusion list for the certificate, so if your basket depends on it stacking with a nett price, ask at the counter before you queue.

Two prices, two coasts

POPULAR states it plainly in the flyer's fine print: *"Price quoted is varied for Peninsular and East Malaysia bookstores."* You can see it on the shelf. The Cardcaptor Sakura Malay-edition comics are RM16.00 nett (Sem) against RM17.00 nett (S/S) each, while the bundle price is a national buy 2 at RM25.00. So a Peninsular buyer saves RM7.00 on the pair and a Sabah or Sarawak buyer saves RM9.00 on the identical bundle. The same split appears on the assessment books: 嘉阳小状元 MPT4 is RM5.90 in West Malaysia and RM6.50 in the East, and the SASBADI PRA-SPM range is RM6.90 to RM8.90 against RM7.50 to RM9.90.

This is the rare case where East Malaysia comes out ahead, and only because the sale price is set nationally while the list price is not.

Where you can actually use it

POPULAR's own store locator says: "To date, there are 80 POPULAR / HARRIS Bookstores nationwide." Counted on 4 September 2026, that breaks down as Selangor 19, Kuala Lumpur 12, Johor 12, Sarawak 7, Perak 6, Penang 6, Melaka 4, Sabah 4, Kedah 3, Negeri Sembilan 3, and one each in Pahang (Kuantan City Mall), Kelantan, Putrajaya and Terengganu.

Perlis and Labuan have no POPULAR or HARRIS outlet at all. Terengganu, Kelantan and Pahang have exactly one each, so for most of the East Coast this is a one-branch sale. Unlike August's Big Sale, which named only 43 of the 80 stores, POPULAR's own page puts Super Holiday at all bookstores, so there is no participating-store list to check this time.

Near a bookfair? That is a different sale, and often a better one

Super Holiday is a bookstore campaign. POPULAR files its roadshow bookfairs in a separate block on the same hub, and every fair poster carries the same sentence: the offer is applicable at that bookfair only. So a fair's prices are not the flyer's prices, and neither list carries over to the other.

Checked on 5 September 2026, nine fairs are live and six of them close on 6 September: Quayside Mall Kota Kemuning, Sunshine Central, EkoCheras Mall, Kompleks Melaka Mall, Suria Sabah and The Starling Damansara Uptown, alongside IOI City Mall Putrajaya, which opened on 25 August. If one of those is your fair, this weekend is the end of it.

Two run past Super Holiday itself, and one of them is the best book price in this article. POPULAR Bookfair @ Aiman Mall runs 3 to 28 September 2026, ground floor, 9.30am to 10.00pm — and its own poster gives the address as 94300 Kota Samarahan, not the "Kuching" the hub labels it. Its rails beat the national flyer for English paperbacks: selected English books at RM15.00 nett each, or buy 3 for RM20.00 nett, which is RM6.67 a book, plus 20% off when you buy 2 or more selected English and Malay titles and a free RM5 voucher on RM50 nett in a single receipt. Where the two lists agree is the purchase-with-purchase: RM60 nett of spend gets the SonicGear SonicGo! 5 speaker at RM39.90 at the fair exactly as it does in store, or a 700ml UZSPACE thermal flask at RM29.90 from RM79.90. POPULAR Bookfair @ Emart Tabuan Jaya, Kuching runs all the way to 1 November 2026.

One store has its own September price list

POPULAR is also running a Promosi Bulanan for September 2026, and the fine print on its artwork restricts it to POPULAR Kuala Selangor only — No. G28 & G30, Jalan Bendahara 1A, Taman Bendahara, 45000 Kuala Selangor, open 10.30am to 9.00pm daily per POPULAR's own locator. It is a separate sheet with its own member column, and it does not appear on the Super Holiday flyer at all:

  • *The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People*: RM44.90 nett from RM79.90
  • *Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories #02* (hardback): RM64.90 nett, member RM57.90 nett, from RM72.50
  • Giddens Ko, *Café. Waiting. Love.*: RM89.90 nett, member RM79.90 nett, from RM99.90
  • 长安小饭馆 全二册: RM65.00, member RM58.00 nett, from RM72.80
  • 什么都不做也挺好的: RM40.00 nett from RM52.00
  • 有鸡好料理: RM22.00 nett from RM28.50

Disney *Wings of Reverie* is a 20% member rebate off RM54.90 rather than a nett price. The sheet carries the same rider as the national flyer — any purchase of RM10 and above, not valid on nett-priced items, free items while stocks last.

The other campaigns running behind it

Comic Carnival 6.0 (1 August to 30 September) is unusual enough to mention: POPULAR's artwork commits 10% of sales to selected school students in need of stationery, alongside a 10% rebate for customers on selected comic books. It is one of the few Malaysian retail campaigns that publishes a giving figure on the poster rather than in a press release.

The membership sign-up and renewal rebate runs 1 August to 30 September, in stores and on POPULAR ONLINE, and it is a better reason to join than the card fee suggests. New or renewing members can buy the POPULAR-exclusive *The Little Prince* at RM19.90 from RM49.90, the Crayon Shin-Chan Movie Collection 7-DVD set at RM69.90 from RM119.90, or POP Basic mesh zipper bags at 40% off RM7.90 to RM12.90. POPULAR ONLINE separately gives a free RM5 coupon on RM30 of spend. The campaign artwork also spells out how you collect, which is not the same for both card types: an e-Card member's voucher is issued inside the POPULAR MY app, while a physical POPULAR Card is signed up for at popularonline.com.my and the voucher redeemed in person at the nearest POPULAR or HARRIS bookstore by showing the order confirmation email to the cashier.

There is also Program Baucar Buku MADANI 2026, 1 July to 31 October, redeemed through MySiswaPlace or Kota Buku rather than at the till. If you are a student with an unspent MADANI book voucher, that is the cheapest money in this entire article.

Which card, and what you get for signing up

The flyer prices both tiers. A POPULAR Card or e-Card is RM12 for one year on a new application, and a POPULAR Privilege Card or e-Card is RM25 for three years, new or renewal. The three-year card works out to RM8.33 a year, so it is the cheaper option for anyone who buys books more than once a year.

Signing up during the campaign adds a gift: a ZEBRA Sarasa Clip gel retractable pen with the RM12 one-year card, or an exclusive POPULAR toothbrush case with the RM25 three-year card. The condition is the one most people miss: the free item needs any purchase of RM10 and above, except nett-priced items. Since a large part of this flyer is nett-priced, a basket of only sale items may not qualify you for the gift.

The e-Card version lives in the POPULAR MY app, which is also where the 20% certificate can be shown. POPULAR says the card is accepted at over 140 of its bookstores across Malaysia and Singapore.

Who should skip this

Skip it if you only want the loudest numbers. The "up to 25%" applies to selected bestsellers, and the deepest cuts on the flyer are clearance-shaped rather than broad: *Human Anatomy* at RM54.90 from RM179.90 is a 69.5% cut, the SonicGear NEOX 8 speaker is RM29.90 from RM79.90, and the PLUS MR2 correction tape 10-pack is RM20.00 from RM48.00. Those are single lines, not a storewide rate.

Skip the card if you genuinely buy one paperback a year and it happens to be nett-priced, since neither the member column nor the 20% certificate will reach you. And skip a special trip for the free Staedtler Luna 24-colour pencils at RM7.50 from RM15.80: that one is capped at the first 10,000 customers nationwide, one unit per receipt, and a week into the campaign there is no way to check what is left.

The fine print worth reading twice

POPULAR's own footer on the flyer carries five conditions: the promotion applies at POPULAR / HARRIS bookstores in Malaysia; the free item needs any purchase of RM10 and above except nett-priced items; prices differ between Peninsular and East Malaysia; certain items are available at selected bookstores only; and all free items are while stocks last.

The purchase-with-purchase pair has its own rule. The 3M Scotch titanium kitchen scissors at RM38.00 from RM67.50 and the SonicGear SonicGo! 5 speaker at RM39.90 from RM59.90 both need a spend of RM60 nett and above, and POPULAR states that the qualifying sum must exclude the price of the PWP items themselves, limited to one unit each per customer in a single receipt on the same day. The Vinnfier Momento X2 earphones at RM26.90 from RM49.00 carry a separate cap of five units per customer.

Full campaign page: POPULAR Super Holiday Promotion, re-confirmed live on 5 September 2026.

Related reads

*Image: POPULAR Bookstores (Super Holiday Promotion campaign banner, popular.com.my)*