Frills On The Spine
- CMYK, Delhi, Pune, Mumbai: Movie nights, baking classes, book binding workshops, loyalty programme, art and design events
- Books ’n Brew, Chandigarh: Author meet-ups
- The Coffee Cup, Hyderabad: Art exhibitions, ‘Artist at Work’ events
- Yodakin, Delhi: Multi-level book launches, offbeat book readings
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A day before author and journalist Jerry Pinto’s book launch at Delhi’s tiny but eclectic Yodakin bookstore, an e-mail was sent out to those attending: “The doors will close as soon as the store is full to capacity. However, we are putting speakers outside so you will be able to hear the reading on the verandah if you are late, and you don’t mind standing.” A wise measure at a bookstore like Yodakin, which at 400 sq ft of ground space is low on legroom but high on creating an alternative book world, stocking up on independent titles, music and cinema. A half hour before the reading of Pinto’s Em and the Big Hoom, the bookshop has already filled up and latecomers happily spill over onto the loft and out to the verandah. “When you come into a place like this, people tend to feel relaxed, and start participating in events,” says Yodakin owner Arpita Das, who also runs alternative publishing outfit Yoda Press. Sure enough, with lots of easy banter and a humour-filled interactive reading, the evening feels more like a fun, informal gathering at a friend’s pad.
Priya Kapoor, director at Roli Books, likes to create a similar vibe at CMYK, a well-designed bookshop and cafe with outlets in Delhi and Pune that opened a branch in Mumbai just last week. Specialising in illustrated books on art and design, Kapoor is busy building a community of book enthusiasts to get people back into bookshops. “The big bookstore chains have been a real letdown in terms of their selection of books. Therefore, we have more niche stores opening shop than ever before, to fill the gap.” Most evenings at her stores end in a movie screening, poetry or book reading. Over weekends, you are tempted with baking classes and a variety of workshops, for both kids and adults.
It all adds to the new energy simmering in the independent book circuit, where the idea of a nonchalant visit to a bookshop is being turned on its head. A more experiential, offbeat one is in vogue. Specialised, theme-based bookstores are opening doors even as old-style independent and chain bookshops battle poor sales or shut down altogether. Gangaram’s in Bangalore recently relocated to cut costs. The dependable Bookworm in Delhi shut shop a couple of years ago. Meanwhile, online book shopping, once faddish, has turned serious, with webstores constantly locked in battle over offering bigger discounts.
Spell & Bound in Delhi. (Photogrgraph by Tribhuvan Tiwari)
Bad time to open a bookshop then? Young entrepreneurs Aseem Vadehra and Kanika Kapoor didn’t think so. Their dream of opening a bookstore with a Parisian feel resulted in the quaint, vintage-styled Spell & Bound in Delhi, with an attractively designed children’s section and a snack bar to boot. “Even in a digitised world, people need a meeting spot, a cultural cove, and Spell & Bound provides that space,” says Vadehra of his store, just a year old. A month-old addition is the cafe, Kettle Drum, where you can snack while you browse and avail of discount coupons. In expansion mode, the duo recently set up a children’s books kiosk at Select Citywalk mall. Like other savvy new independent booksellers, Vadehra and Kapoor keep alive a steady, infectious buzz about their store through regular updates on social media sites. For Vidya Virkar, managing partner at Mumbai’s legendary Strand Book Stall started by her father T.N. Shanbhag, keeping with the trends is important. “Large chains can’t hold a candle to small ones like ours. What we create are personal bookshops, catering to eclectic readers,” she says.
In Chandigarh, Vishal Bhasin, 30, is hoping to birth a book culture through his one-year-old Books ’n Brew, which opened its second outlet in the city in March. “The idea is to create a social hub, while trying to encourage people to read, which is a challenge here,” he says. Ditto the barely-a-month-old May Day Bookstore and Cafe in Delhi: it offers a space “to read, discuss culture and politics, and have coffee”. An adjoining culture space, Safdar Studio, which will host events, completes the deal. “Coffee and books gel well,” agrees Nishant Sinha, consultant at The Coffee Cup, another bookshop-cum-cafe located in Hyderabad. The store keeps a collection of, well, coffee-table books on cookery and travel that customers can browse through, with a section of the latest bestsellers on sale. “People can order books and we will get it for them in 2-3 days,” promises Sinha.
Most independent booksellers are conscious of the dynamic online market. Vadehra and Kapoor keep Spell & Bound open till 11 pm nightly to catch the office-going crowd, and promise delivery of online orders within a day. Even the old hands, like the Strand Book Stall, which also enjoys a formidable presence on Bangalore’s IT campuses, offer online discounts. “Fifteen per cent of our sales are online, I feel most people are shopping online for books for its novelty value. Even so, the larger book chains will not survive in long run. But independent bookstores and online bookstores will coexist,” predicts Virkar.
So, even though Flipkart frenzy might account for a certain share of book-buying, niche bookstores have a fair playground to operate in. “We don’t feel threatened by online buying because in a bookstore like ours, people prefer to browse before making up their mind about a purchase,” says Aarti Walia, owner of the Delhi-based Bookwise, a charming wood-panelled bookstore specialising in coffee-table books of all kinds. It also stocks handmade stationery as an add-on. “We like to pamper customers. Anybody who walks in is served a cup of tea,” she adds.
For book lovers, such personal touches count as much as the careful selection of quality titles. “In a big bookstore, you have to wade through the new breed of made-in-India bestsellers before you get to what you are really looking for,” says writer and internet professional Arunava Sinha. Pinto puts it more emotionally, “Niche bookstores make me feel like there is another life for books. These are bookshops with a heart.”
