Love for reading is open book

The leading bookshops in the city — Capital Book Depot in Sector 17, The English Bookshop, Sector 17 and Browser in Sector 8 — say that their business has gone up, and they expect it to grow further in the future. Pankaj Singh, owner of Browser in Sector 8, says, “Our memberships have really gone up, at present, we have 3,000 members. Besides lending, sales of the books are also high.”

Like other business sectors, even the “intellectual” market, too, had many a time taken downward trajectory. However, the customers had helped them bail out of the crisis. Now, the market is growing by leaps and bounds. Ajay Kapoor, owner of Capital Bookstore, says, “We do not maintain record of the sales, but our store is always full of people. The market has seen huge growth.”

The bookshops here cater to all age groups. However, most of the buyers are of the age group between 35 and 50. The bookshop owners also believe that for them it is important to earn loyalty of the customers for which they even offer discounts and special offers from time to time. Giving details, Pankaj says, “For our members we give a flat 15 per cent off.” But Ajay of Capital Bookstore believes, “We believe in keeping variety of books to attract customers. We have rare books.”

Books are assets and you have to pay for it. One should not hesitate in buying favourite authors. The customers also have favourite shops, as they believe ambience is very important for bookshops. SD Sharma, a resident of Sector 8, says, “We spend so much on food so why can't we spend money on our favourite books. Nothing can ever replace books, and they definitely are best friends.”