Beds,Brownies and books

The store has been around for two years and the interiors have been designed to give you the feel of a typical Victorian living room — red brick walls,red tile floors and wooden furniture,complete with a bed,a rocking chair,a television set,potted bonsai plants,carpets,a kitchenette. And books. Tables and shelves are full of fancy coffee-table books on different subjects — archeology,art,architecture,fashion,travel etc. “I am very particular about the aesthetics of the place,” says Sabharwal,adding,“My books are expensive. I might not attract the masses because if I had wanted to,I’d be sitting in a mall.”

Today,books have become one of the many products that a bookshop might offer. With the advent of e-books and virtual bookstores,the “real world” bookseller is left mulling over ways and means to put every square foot of his space to good use. Kapil Kapoor,Director,Roli Books,feels that with all the cheaper online alternatives coming up,a physical bookstore can provide one thing that an online portal can’t — experience. Roli has two bookshops — The Half Price bookstore at Select Citywalk mall,Saket,and CMYK,an art bookshop at Lodhi Road. “The space and the location determine the kind of things we can do,” he says.

Half Price is located in a big bustling mall and everything sells at 30-90% of the original price. “The discount being the main attraction of the store,shoppers don’t dawdle around. They pay and leave. We also have an hourly raffle and a lucky winner gets to go home with a free book,” he explains. On the other hand,CMYK is a different story altogether. Here,they sell quality art books. “It is a destination bookstore and we organise a number of events — book binding and photography workshops,design forums,art exhibitions and special movie nights,complete with comfortable chairs,popcorn and the works… and we have received a phenomenal feedback,” says Kapoor.

A more recent venture is the Spell & Bound bookshop and cafe in SDA market. Owners Kanika Kapoor and Aseem Vadehra have a tie-up with IIT-Delhi. Apart from being an official venue for a number of IIT debates,the store also offers a 10% discount to IIT-ians. “We are planning to go online as well. We will give the online buyers the option of cash on delivery,” says Vadehra. What’s the point in having a physical bookstore then? “People who want to come to a bookstore will always come to a bookstore,” he says.

But the old world bookstore is not completely lost. KD Singh,who owns The Bookshop in Jorbagh,says he doesn’t give two hoots about free coffee or wi-fi. The Bookshop is perhaps one of the few places in Delhi that sell classic,old literature. “My customers want good,solid

literature and that’s what I have been providing them with,for the last 40 years,” he says. Singh does not believe in the concept of discounts. “Either you can give books or you can give discounts. You can never do both,” he says.