#53 Why Books Are Not Enough to Save Indie Bookstores
In the 'add-to-cart' age, brick-and-mortar stores are facing challenges, and yet some legacy book stores continue to thrive. What sets them apart? Is their approach sustainable?
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There is an ongoing conversation and fear in the publishing industry about independent bookstores going extinct amidst the rise of E-books and online retailers like Amazon. Due to the convenience of online shopping, massive discounts on online retail sites, and a wider selection of books, readers tend to migrate away from bookstores to buy books online. This was evident especially during COVID, when bookstores took a massive hit financially. However, these bookstores are holding their ground, and setting up online stores of their own is not the only way they’re doing so.
Turns out, independent bookstores are thriving — as long as they offer more than just books.
We talked to Subodh Sankar, co-founder of Atta Galatta, an extremely popular bookstore in Bengaluru, when he conducted a session on Independent Bookstores during The Bound Publishing Course.
He said, “A lot of people that come to our store don't necessarily come there to buy books. A lot of young people come with their friends, and they hang out, eat their lunch, do their homework, because it's a nice, air conditioned bookstore.”
According to him, maintaining an independent bookstore today goes back to the experience the bookstores choose to offer their customers.
A part of this customer experience is curation, says Leonard Fernandes, owner of The Dogears Bookshop in Goa. People come into bookstores and particularly ask for the books they want to read. However, he says, “You don’t bring the latest book in that genre, you want to bring a good read that will push the boundaries of that genre”. This process of handpicking books is how Leonard ensures that the selection of books at his store is worth the customers’ time and money.
Additionally, bookstore owners have not missed out on the appeal of bookshop cafes, which are becoming a huge part of the literary experience. Mumbai’s Kitab Khana, Bengaluru’s Champaca, and Pune’s Pagdandi are just a few of the famous bookstores in India that have in-house cafes. Gen Z, in particular, are drawn to this initiative, and the abundance of aesthetic ‘coffee and a book’ photos on Instagram clearly shows that this is an initiative that works. These aesthetics are also one of the main reasons Gen Z is bringing back print culture, which we decoded in a previous newsletter.
In that newsletter, we also looked at how Gen Z are more likely to attend literary events at bookstores. Events like author signings, workshops, and open mics are an integral part of many legacy Indian bookstores and are becoming part of even more bookstores, especially post-pandemic. “We too have had to evolve, with holding author events in the city, inviting writers to the store for interactive sessions, providing discounts, and more,” says Gaurav Prakash of Lucknow’s Universal Book Sellers.
While it is true that brick-and-mortar bookstores are facing challenges because of e-commerce and e-books, all hope is not lost. The resilience of independent bookstores lies in their community, and more and more bookstores are looking at the bigger picture of community experience. As long as independent bookstores keep evolving to suit customer needs, it’s unlikely that we’ll see their demise anytime soon.
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