Sales at bookstores across the city have seen an increase of 30 to 40% in recent months, after successive COVID-19 disruptions. At bigger stores, around 50,000 to 70,000 books are being sold in a month while medium-sized stores are selling at least 30,000 books a month. While millenialls and IT professionals were the prominent customers in the pre-pandemic days, now the store owners have reported selling to the Gen Z crowd.
More young customers have also meant an increase in demand for genres of books for young adults. Non-fiction books, mainly finance and self-help related, also happen to be popular among the readers. “I think we were all pretty lost during the pandemic, so it felt enlightening to read up on mental health, actually,” says Disha, a bookworm.
“We have added on many new customers the last few months. We have had youngsters, who are also first-time readers, asking us for recommendations. Most of them want non fiction books only,” said Krishna of Bookworm on Church Street.
In the initial few days after the lockdowns, bookstores employed several methods to bring back sales. Some began renovating their store, and some like Champaca, put in add ons, such as a library-like reading facility within the store, to promote sales. However, Champaca is yet to reach its pre-pandemic level sales
.At one of the biggest bookstores in the city, Blossoms, 70,000 books are being sold in a month since December. “We usually saw a dip in purchases in the months of February and March. Somehow this year, that did not happen. The first wave of COVID-19 was scary for us, but now the sales are better than the pre-pandemic days,” said Mayee Gowda, owner, Blossoms Bookstore.
Sales seem to have picked up at Kannada bookstores stores too. While some reported finding years old customers back at their stores, the younger crowd has also found its way to regional literature. After the pandemic, more youngsters, started coming in. I think, people started becoming more aware of the Kannada classics, and reading also in general,” said Gururprasad D.N., of Aakruti Bookstores.
