BENGALURU: Situated in the heart of the city on Church Street, is a small cosy bookstore, which has gained prominence over the last 10 years. But with the economic slowdown catching up rapidly, Goobe’s Book Republic is facing the brunt of it, and announced last week that they might have to shut down owing to lack of funds.
Soon after the announcement of the possible closure, posts on social media platforms to save the bookstore, which is known for its large collection of secondhand books ranging from science-fiction to non-fiction, went viral. Ravi Menezes, the owner of the store, who started the store with 5,000 books, now hosts over 20,000 books.
“Demonetisation, and the low cost at which books are offered online, have changed things for us. As an independent bookseller, I have to look into payrolls of staff, rent and distributor fees. With these overheads, it’s impossible to offer high discounts which our online competitors do. We have come to the stage where we’re selling books for as little as `25, as part of our clearance sale. We don’t have any other option,” says Menezes.
Even in these difficult times, the bookseller doesn’t want to give up easily, and is looking at possible ways to sustain his business. “We will watch till December and then take a call. Church Street is the best location to for bookshops. If we don’t have business here, then where else will it be possible?,”he points out.
Menezes is contemplating tying up with corporates for library services, through which they will set up a rack of books which is changed every month, the profits through which, he hopes to keep Goobe’s alive. “As of now, we have two customers on board for this. But we need at least 10 companies to sustain. If we achieve it by the end of December, then Goobe’s will be saved.”
A regular at Goobe’s, Kavya Shetty feels the situation reflects the current interest among millennials. “It’s sad to see our bookstores say goodbye. It also indicates how our new generation is getting away from the books. Not just that, these libraries and bookstores are also a great platform to connect with other communities, readers, writers and sometimes artists. What’s happening with Goobe’s is really not good for Bengaluru,” she says.
Booksellers worry who’s next
While many point out several reasons for continuous closures of city’s knowledge hubs, CE spoke to independent booksellers who shared their strategies to deal with the recession. Guruprasad D N, proprietor of 10-year-old Aakruti Books, Rajajinagar, said, “My business is surviving because of sale of Kannada books. We have some interesting books which are not available online.
This is the only way I can sustain, at least for now.” M R Venkatesh (60) has been running a bookstore for 43 years. While he started off in a large store in JP Nagar, he had to move toJayanagar due to high rent. Venkatesh, who owns Nagasri Book House in Jayanagar, says, “High discounts on websites affect our business. However, Jayanagar has good potential in this sector. Now, we are facing a 30 per cent business slowdown. If this continues, we will have only one option – closure.”