From the pages of book lovers’ City

From the pages of book lovers’ City
Deccan Herald

Internet has actually helped in the sales of books. People surf the sites, get details of books and then place their order. This has made the book world boom.

Sankar’s — the chain of popular book store’s newest outlet in Jayanagar Fourth Block is barely a week old and is already doing brisk business. In the last two years, three major book stores opened shop in Bangalore City and have been flourishing since then. “After Kolkata, where we have 700 footfalls (visitors) everyday, Bangalore comes next. We have 550 in our store here everyday. The City has a huge market for books,” says Atanu Majumdar, Manager, Oxford Bookstore.

The other two stores, Crossword and Landmark also celebrate the fact that book reading never really died down despite the much hyped Internet boom. “On the contrary, Internet has made the book world boom. Today people surf the sites, get details of the books and place their orders. It has brought the buyer and book together,” says managing partner, Landmark, Hemu Ramaiah.

“We are doing well thanks to people, whose passion is to read,” says Vivek Sankar of Sankar’s. They’ve been in the business of book selling for 28 years and have never had a “dull moment.”

“Though there’s a reader for all kinds of genre, English fiction in India got an adrenaline shot with Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, which became a big hit last year. In 2004, two of the best known contemporary fiction writers — John Grisham and Sidney Sheldon came up with their new books The Broker and Are you afraid of the dark? They have been complete sell outs,” he adds. Vidya Virkar of Strand says, books are “enjoying a boom”.

Though books never really went out of circulation, the stores in the past couple of years have innovated a new marketing strategy to invite and sustain the readers. “Most people who read well also drink coffee,” says Madhubala of Crossword, the swank bookstore on Residency Road. The store has Cafe Coffee Day outlet on the ground floor where people lounge around, have coffee and discuss books. Oxford Bookstore housed in Leela Galleria has Cha Bar, which has 69 flavours of tea. The new Sankar’s at Jayanagar has also tied up with Kalmane — the new coffee cafe people.

Self help books

And in this hi-tech age and culture where people work 24/7 guess what they are reading? Self help books! According to the book store owners self help books are the most sought after. “It’s a global phenomena. People buy them because they want to polish their life skills. Also, these books offer a solution for almost anything and everything,” says Hemu.

And the book reading euphoria is presently at a high with J K Rowling’s new Harry Potter and the Half blood Prince set to be launched on July 16 this year.