The joy of walking into a bookstore and browsing through racks at leisure is a feeling book-lovers have cherished for a long time. However, this is slowly coming to an end as bookshops in Delhi are fighting to keep their doors open. The rapid decline in the number of bookshops is alarming, with store owners blaming the rising popularity of online shopping portals.
The National Book Trust (NBT) at the Kashmere Gate Metro Station, which was set up in November 2013, saw good days for a few months. Initially, the sales for a day were at least Rs.5,000, but now it does not cross Rs.4,000. “The main reason is online portals. People prefer to buy online as it saves time,” says Nasar Alam, who mans the store. Customers, on the other hand, complain that only bestsellers are available at these stores. To this Nasar says, “Space here is limited, but we try to fulfil demands”.
Bookstores have always held a vital place. Apart from being shops, they have acted as social hubs. People who run these bookstores have loyal customers who drop by once in a while and end up forming a bond with the owners. The joy of reading that they share is what connects them.
Technology, however, has sabotaged this friendship. “People these days do not have time to read. They have a busy life and whatever time they get is spent on gadgets,” says Pawan, who runs a Sahitya Akademi Bookstore. The store, he says, that sells books on Indian literature has not been able to attract customers and is able to make sales of only Rs.2,000 per day.
Pawan says, “The government wants people to read Indian Literature and, thus, we also provide discounts. But, we still are not able to attract customers”.
Jigyasa Mukherjee, a final year Delhi University (DU) student, says, “Whenever I need a book, I order it online. With my schedule it becomes difficult to visit bookstores.”
But all is not lost. There are bookstores that are flourishing. The Delhi Book Company, for instance, in Connaught Place has certainly seen a decrease in sales, but still attracts customers. “I think the main problem is that most books are turned into movies and sitcoms. People prefer those rather than reading a big novel,” said an employee here.
Recent years have seen a rapid decline in the number of bookshops, especially in malls. Space occupied by various bookstores has been given out to commercial shops. Reliance’s TimeOut, Shopper Stop’s Crossword, Tata’s Landmark and many more have shut down due to losses the companies had to bear.
Vidya Malhotra, a literature student at DU, however, defends bookstores, “The best thing about bookstores is that we go there and buy something we didn’t know we wanted. This makes me feel that though bookstores may decrease, they surely cannot die.”
(The writer is an intern with The Hindu)
