Restricting themselves to the sale of academic books, especially those pertaining to engineering courses and competitive exams, Jayanthi Book Distributors in T. Nagar have carved out a niche following.
The shop had a humble beginning in the old Moore Market, when it was called Ramalingam Book Store. Ramalingam, founder of the shop, set up Western Bookstore for his son, R. Gunalan, in the same area.
The 1985 fire in Moore Market turned their world topsy-turvy. Ramalingam despaired of ever overcoming the tragedy and is said to have died a broken-hearted man. Gunalan, who has a BCom degree from Pachaiyappa’s College, did not give in to despondency —he did everything he could to resurrect the business.
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He started a pavement shop on Anna Salai, opposite LIC. Later, he shifted the shop to Krishnaveni theatre in T. Nagar. In 1990, he moved from the pavement to an outlet in T. Nagar. Thus, Jayanthi Book Distributors was born. Now, the book house has grown into three branches. It sells books brought out by famous publications including TMH, PSN and PHI, offering attractive discounts to students and delivering books at their doorsteps.
On why he focused entirely on academic books, Gunalan says, “Lack of space forced me to leave novels out of my business. However, I now have expansion plans am considering including novels too, if not in T.Nagar, at least in Kodambakkam,” he says.
Students from colleges on OMR and ECR make frequent visits to Gunalan’s three branches — Ranganathan Street, Natesan Street and Kodambakkam.
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“We also consider having a branch there. If the fire accident had not happened and my father had not died then, we would have had more branches,” says Gunalan.
He can be contacted at 7418835058 and his son G. Naveen, who takes care of the Kodambakkam branch, at 9791180900.