It is like a book fair that has been on for 25 years.The Old Book Market, near the B1 Police station, Ukkadam encloses 31 shops where there are books for kindergarten use to PhD.
There are attractive discounts up for grabs, sometimes up to 50 per cent. Besides study material for competitive examinations like IAS, NCERT, GATE, NEET, there are also novels in English and Tamil and books that cover the syllabus for the many universities and colleges in the city. Research scholars have plenty going for them here and the book shops often come to the rescue of college libraries in replacing their missing books. M Jaffer Sadiq of Tiljas Books is the the senior most shop owner who has been in this field for almost 40 years. “We provide A to Z book solution for all ages,” he says. “We have books that you would find in a university library.” The bookshop owners also buy back used books.
But things are not rosy, say the bookshop dealers. They have been hit by the drop in demand for engineering books especially “This is partially because of the fall in number of students opting for engineering. Then there is the online market where books are cheaper,” Jaffer laments. Books being available just a tap away, youngsters naturally choose online shopping. Another long-time shop owner, SA Habeeb Rahman also says, thanks to the online shopping ,their business has taken a hit. “Earlier, an owner had to hire two or three assistants to help run the shop but now many owners themselves have left the business because of the drastic drop in sales.”
But there is still demand for novels, historical and motivational books, and medical books they say. In recent times, preparatory books on NEET, SLET, and NET have gone up in sales.
Less known is the fact that these shops sometimes have limited edition magazines. If you are lucky, you can lay your hands on unique publications like a collection of photos that have been compiled into a photo-journey. One of the stall owners, TA Mohammed Yousef says, “We have Tamil books which are 100 years old. They are usually bought by publishers who adapt the content to the contemporary style making it easier for the readers to comprehend.”
- Where: near the B1 Police station, Ukkadam
- Open on all seven days from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- The price of books range from Rs.10 to Rs.2,000.
A Buvaneswari, the mother of a second-year college student, is browsing the market for books on Environmental Science. “We are seldom disappointed, as we usually find what we are looking for. Sometimes my daughter also brings along a list of books from her classmates to buy as they know it is cheaper here. The booksellers here want their shops to be a one-stop destination, so they manage to get the books by any means,”, she smiles and departs with an armload of books.
Jaffer is hoping for a miracle that will give their market a shot in the arm. “We still have few genuine customers who come only to us to buy books, because of the low cost and the trust they have in us,” he says.
