Tue, 10 May 2022
By Salonee Mistry
When the entire world went into the lockdown, trends such as Dalgona coffee and banana bread, homeworkout regimes, and plant parenting inspired us to take up new vocations, while many went back to the healthy habit of reading books to find solace in trying times. Interestingly, there has been an influx of new readers in the quarantine, who, for the first time, laid their hands on a copy of a book. And, while there was a major spike in readership, visiting bookstores and libraries took a backseat during the lockdown — bibliophiles across the country and Pune missed their regular visits to bookstores and 'buy by kilo' exhibitions.
The pandemic witnessed stores rescuing book lovers from the state of despair with online thrift bookstores. From Instagram to Facebook and WhatsApp groups, the online space became a medium for bibliophiles to buy books, especially second-hand copies sold at an affordable price with a hassle-free delivery service. Although now, stores have opened up, allowing book lovers to spend hours browsing shelves, flipping through pages, and walking out of the store, they enjoy the comfort of ordering books online. Bibliophiles are also in love with the idea of buying secondhand books. The growing popularity of the online thrift bookstores is proof that thrifting, which is giving a new lease of life to old books, is here to say.
Sneha Kapoor, a student of MA (English), prefers buying second-hand/pre-loved copies because they’re pocket-friendly. “The price difference between new books and the second-hand is huge, especially of the foreign authors!” she says, adding, “I got a Pakistani author’s book for just Rs 300 from BookChor, my go-to thrift store. The cost of the original book was over Rs 650 in India. Unlike the thrift stores, commercial bookstores usually have book covers that have a marketing agenda.”
Spreading their love for books
When Manish Kumar thought of starting a business of his own, he decided to do something around books catering to his love for reading. During the pandemic, several book stores got shut down and academic books were hard to find. Kumar had previously tried selling books on WhatsApp and had been successful. He started the Instagram page @books.palace13, to deliver books across the country, during the pandemic.
“I initially started with just friends and acquaintances. I bought books worth Rs 1,000 and sold them in a matter of three to four days. Gradually, my reach grew and the book orders started coming in thousands,” recalls Kumar, who deals in second-hand books of all genres including academic books.
Heartbroken to see people selling their books in scrap, IT professional Vibhuti Dixit and wife Supriya decided to buy used books to resell them to those who wanted to read. “Our goal was to provide these books to those who could not afford them at their original price. Some of our books are priced at as low as Rs 70. We carry out multiple other drives to encourage reading in the community. From used and second-hand books we expanded to new books and even special signed author copies,” Dixit says. The couple started with just a few books in the beginning.
Their Instagram page @kharidobechobooks which has 10K followers, delivers books across the country and at a dirt-cheap price. Supriya largely handles the business from their warehouse in Hinjewadi. They started by delivering the books themselves across Pune and now have enough customers to absorb delivery charges for really inexpensive books.
People, as expected, took time to adjust to buying books on thrift stories. Firstly, it was difficult for them to trust these platforms, secondly, it also took them a while before they fell in love with used books. Replicating the joy of buying books by kilogram, Abhishek Sayam started @bookbykilo.
“I've loved reading since I was a child. It soon grew into a passion and I thought it would be great to share my love for books with other people. So, I turned my passion into my profession,” Sayam tells Mirror. Having started in 2019, there were times when he absolutely did no business but when the restrictions eased out, he saw a boost in sales within three months. From 15,000 customers in 2019, Sayam’s clientele has reached over a lakh people today. He believes his personalised and detail-oriented service has worked wonders for his venture.
Dixit has also initiated a book exchange program and has tied up with cafes across the city to set up libraries there. To express his gratitude and encourage his readers, Kumar gives them offers and discounts, hoping they will buy more books and also spread the word about his store. Sales for all three of these thrift or online bookstores have only grown through the pandemic and continue to see a rise even today, they say in unison.
Books as good as new
One might have reservations about buying pre-loved books on an online platform as many fear that the books arriving could be damaged or have missing pages. However, owners of thrift bookstores go out of their way to ensure that the books are in great condition. “I have never received a damaged book from these stores and one thing that I love the most about them is they often add a cute bookmark or some little bookish goodie which big chains of bookstores have stopped doing,” says Kapoor.
Book nerd Sumona Chatterjee felt like a fish out of water when the
sudden lockdown stopped her from visiting her favourite bookstore; she
had finished reading a novel and was itching to lay her hands on
something new soon. Not a fan of e-books or podcasts, the 22-year-old
student began looking for buying options online and that's when she
stumbled upon a thrift store that deals in pre-used copies. "I am a
sucker for thrillers and when I found that Instagram pages are
delivering books in the genre, I couldn't wait to place an order. And
why not? They were available for half the price of the new books. I may
have been a little dubious about the quality of the books, but I was
actually taken by surprise when the copies arrived. They were as good as
the new ones. The smell of the books was euphoric. For the past two
years now, I've been only ordering books on thrift stories and have
successfully set up a home library. Thanks to the price they are sold
at!" exclaims Chatterjee.~ Courtesy
