Shelf-Life with Mid-day: Despite internet impact on business, book lovers stay true to traditional reading experiences

For the uncountable things that Mumbai is known for, the city also boasts a huge number of bookstalls sitting in quaint streets and busy roads. However, these bookstalls might just cease to exist a few years from now, believes Dharmesh Khandor, owner of the 45-year-old Sheetal Book Centre.

"The young generation today prefers to work in offices or proper shops rather than working for or setting up a bookstall on the footpath. Running a bookstall on the road is perceived as lowly nowadays," says the bookseller.

He highlights, "Today, you won't see any young lad running such a bookstall. Ours' will probably be the last generation to do so." The reason, he says, is an improved understanding of the quality of life among the younger generation, easy accessibility of education and diverse career options and fields.

Dharmesh is a father of two. His son is a chartered accountant and his daughter is a student pursuing her bachelor's degree in psychology. When asked if either of his children has plans of carrying forward the business of selling books, Dharmesh smiles and says, "I don't think they will. Why will they, when they have accomplished higher educational degrees? They have their own goals and aspirations."

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The bookseller goes on to add that another reason why the young won't step into the business of selling books is because it will take a lot of money to purchase or even rent a simple, small shop. The rent of even a small store in Mumbai today costs Rs 70,000-75,000. The profit margin is extremely low. Why would anyone set up a new store?

Sheetal Book Centre nestles amidst a cluster of other bookstalls at Matunga's King Circle area. It is located right outside the famous Cafe Mysore. As a part of our fortnightly series, Mid-day.com chose to sit down with Dharmesh Kandhor to dive into his bookstall's history and how Mumbai's reading community has evolved over the years.

Surviving on Mumbai's streets
Dharmesh's father, Mansukhlal Khandor shifted from Gujarat's Kutch to Mumbai in search of a living. He set up the Sheetal Book Centre in Matunga about 45 years ago. Presently, Dharmesh prefers keeping over 3,000 books at the stall and the stock in the warehouse that holds a massive collection of 20,000 books. This includes novels, self-help books, biographies and auto-biographies, vintage magazines and comics.

The price of books at this stall starts at Rs 50 and can go up to Rs 500 depending on the book you buy. To keep readers coming back to the stall, Dharmesh also accepts books in return at an exchange rate of Rs 50 or half the price of the book. There is no time limit within which you must return the book.

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The Matunga-based bookseller has been running the bookstall for the past 20 years. He is a graduate of Mumbai University with a bachelor's degree in commerce. When asked if he struggles to make book sales like most of the other booksellers in the city, he says, ‘Not at all.'

"You need to have that business acumen. You must know how to run the business. Always give customers everything they want, keeping their requirements and convenience in mind. Sometimes I don't have the books my customers ask for. It is my duty to place an order for those books and make them available to my customers."

According to the Mumbaikar, understanding your customers is the key to keeping your business alive. Staying abreast with the recent buying behaviour, pricing strategies, technology, etc. goes a long way.

From offline to online
With such a knack for business, he is ten steps ahead of his counterparts when it comes to selling books and building customer loyalty. Dharmesh has an online reading community of over 500 members. While he caters to reader's needs at the bookstall, he also accepts purchase orders online and delivers across India using social networking sites like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook.

Taking the help of Indian Post for delivering books, Dharmesh sells books at the same price with an added delivery fee as charged by the postal department. The duration of delivery depends on the location of the customer.

When asked how he came up with this idea Dharmesh says, "I have people from Kashmir, Meghalaya, Kerala, and Kanyakumari placing orders. They are old customers. I thought from their perspective. People these days don't prefer putting in more effort to come down to the store and buy books first-hand. They prefer convenient and doorstep services. This made me think, ‘Why not give them what they want?'"

This strategy seems to have worked well for this bookseller as for most of the conversation, he was busy coordinating with his customers over WhatsApp chat and catering to their queries.

This strategy of accepting orders online worked wonders for him during the Covid-19 lockdown. "I was operating from my warehouse. Yes, there were a lot of protocols that I had to follow since my mode of delivery was Indian Post. However, my business was running."

Orders during the lockdown were particularly high, says Dharmesh. "People were bored, honestly. They needed to engage themselves in reading."

Also Read: Shelf Life with Mid-Day: How this tech-savvy Mumbaikar is infusing new life into his 35-year-old bookstore

Getting to know the customer
The bookseller has always had an interest in reading and calls himself an avid reader too. He enjoys reading non-fiction books and is currently reading ‘Autobiography of a Yogi'. According to him, "Children and young adults must develop a habit of reading. Today, the younger generation is more into movies and web series. While it is a good source of entertainment, reading I believe is an essential life-habit. It helps you shape your mind and leads to personal development."

Besides having the needed business acumen, Dharmesh also seems to have mastered the knack of making perfect book recommendations for his customers. His innate liking for reading can be an added benefit. He says, "I cannot directly recommend books to my customers. There is a trick."

Dharmesh asks the writer what she is currently reading and the book she read before that. Based on that, the Mumbaikar went on to recommend her a few books she might like. "I first ask my customers which books they have read in the past and liked. Based on their reading history, I gauge what they might and might not enjoy reading."

Dharmesh's smart strategies have also got many celebrities too, buying books from him regularly but chooses to remain tight-lipped about how he has done that just like how a magician never reveals his secrets.

Presently, Sheetal Book Centre receives around 30 to 40 customers regularly across all age groups.

Believing in the love for books
"I like my business. I enjoy selling books, but sometimes I do face challenges due to the advancement in technology," says Dharmesh. He says, "Earlier, books were the primary source of knowledge for all. Now, information is available to all on one single device. People read and learn using Google."

While Dharmesh believes that the internet has affected the business a bit, he also stands firm on his opinions that people still love reading books and nothing the replace the joy of holding a book in the hand and losing yourself in a good novel. For this same reason, he also says that while e-books might be compact and convenient, people will always prefer a hard copy.