林榮基喺英屬香港出世，曾在香島中學讀書。1985到1989年喺中資公司中華書局做書籍發行，六四事件後轉職田園書屋。1994年，佢創辦了銅鑼灣書店。2014年，他將銅鑼灣書店賣給巨流傳媒有限公司，佢自己則喺賣盤後留任擔任店長。
Lam was born in Hong Kong, British territory, and studied at Heung Island Secondary School. From 1985 to 1989, he worked as a book publisher at Zhonghua Book Company, a Chinese-funded company, and moved to Pastoral Book House after the Tiananmen Incident. In 1994, he founded Causeway Bay Bookstore. In 2014, he sold the Causeway Bay bookstore to Mighty Current Media Limited, while he himself remained as the store manager after the sale.