There’s something so peaceful about book shopping, particularly when it’s about walking the mazelike old Kolkata streets, sipping a chilled glass of dab sharbat (tender coconut mocktail) from the famous Paramount, and taking a sniff of a freshly purchased book, old or new.
An annual tradition for each child was a trip to College Street, the city’s collection of books just before the start of the new school year. The serpentine avenues, a heaven for bibliophiles, will open up to a wide room with honeycombs of bookstalls, small rooms, but with a huge selection.
However, the pandemic’s devastation has left many with no choice. Not just tiny bookstalls but popular bookstores around the country have experienced a financial decline due to the lockout.
Despite this difficulty, there are several bookstores and book cafes around the country trying to develop and adopt new survival business models. The Blossom Book House of Bengaluru is one of those.
Blossom Book House
A brand synonymous with the city’s image, Blossom has spent years cultivating and developing a loyal consumer base and it is they who help it to remain afloat. The store owner plans to launch an e-commerce bookstore in a month.
Especially with the pre-existing prominent e-commerce platforms which sell books. “We have an edge over them because we have built a relationship with our customers. It’s more personal. Plus, we take special requests and orders and make sure to find the books that are not easily available even online. Also, one thing that sets us apart from other online or offline bookstores is that we also sell and now deliver old secondhand books.” says owner Mayi Gowda.
To order from Blossom, please contact on 9448220202
Pagdandi Bookstore Café
Putian-based Pagdandi Bookstore Cafe also took on a similar pattern. The café was created in 2013 by Vishal and Neha Pipraiya and is a safe space for all creative ventures. Although when they faced the tough COVID-19 conditions, they were not willing to give up, just yet.
“We do not earn that much from these online events but it surely helps in this situation. It also helps in getting the much-needed traction. Before this, our audience and customer base was more local but now people from all over the country join and it has helped us open up to the world,” says Vishal
To order from Pagdandi visit their website Pagdandi Bookstore Café
