Bahrisons promises to bring a new experience to Kolkata bookworms

Fiction, non-fiction, rare hardbound classics, much-loved comics, coffee table books, kids’ favourites and more adorn the racks of the newly opened Bahrisons Booksellers on Park Street.

The store at 31 Chowringhee Road will remain open from 10.30am to 8.30pm. Bookworms can also sip on some coffee at the in-store Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters.

My Kolkata caught up with the brain behind Bahrisons Booksellers, Anuj Bahri, the day the leading bookstore from Delhi opened doors to Kolkata bibliophiles. Excerpts from the chat…

My Kolkata: After expanding Bahrisons from Khan Market to various places in Delhi, Gurugram and Chandigarh, what made you look towards the east, or more specifically Kolkata?

Anuj Bahri: I personally feel Kolkata is the most educated market in India where people have very wide horizons. This can only come from good education. Whether the education is up to the level of high school post-graduation or PhD, it is the level of education. People are educated in Kolkata and that was the prime reason why I wanted to extend my services to a market that is not just literate but also educated.

Why Park Street? Any more expansion plans?

Park Street was an obvious choice because it is a business centre and a commercial hub. But we are not going to stop at Park Street. Finding a location is always critical in retail. So, at this juncture, this [Park Street] was the most suitable place for us because we wanted to also find a good home for the café where people could access the place. Also, it is near the Metro station. The moment you get off the Metro, you will see our signboard. I think that’s a very positive thing. But in the next six months, we hope to open one more store in Kolkata which is going to be purely a bookstore with a larger collection and at a location that will be more accessible to people. It is a way of progression but we had to start somewhere and I think Park Street was a good choice for us. I don’t like malls. I could have gone to Salt Lake or somewhere else but that is not the culture of Bahrisons. We like to be among people and high street is always something that we have encouraged.

Park Street already has an iconic bookstore. Do you think Bahrisons will be able to garner its own market?

I am coming to Kolkata with very modest feelings at the moment. This is my stepping stone. I have to have a shop somewhere. I thought it’s a good idea to be in a market or an area where there is already a readership that is coming to these places. So that I don’t have to waste any additional money on trying to advertise myself. But nonetheless, it’s a stepping stone. It’s a small collection which I can keep changing quickly as per the readers demands. So, tomorrow if you want to read something and tell me to keep it, we will try and cater to that need. It’s easier for us to do that with a collection of 500 titles than to change a whole shop which is built in such a way.

Apart from book buying, how does Bahrisons aim to bridge the gap between readers and authors?

We have already started. Aanchal [Malhotra] who was there was kind enough to come in and sign some books at the store. Our author events have already begun. I am in touch with Karuna [Ezara Parikh] who is helping me organise some author events. It is not just authors who are based out of north/south India. We will also have authors who are writing in English, but are Kolkata-based. Also, Bengali writers. We are trying to put in a full Bengali section over here and we will be happy to bring in Bengali writers who will be able to talk about their books. We are trying to create a new experience but Kolkata will need to give us at least two-three months to settle down. I promise you we will try and bring a new experience for readers.

Will there be delivery options in Kolkata from the store?

Yes.

The bookstore also has a popular cafe — Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters. How significant has the bookstore-cum-coffee shop model become over the years?

I switched to this model in 2013. Our first store which was a café bookstore was started in 2013. It was a successful model. Subsequently now we have seven stores that are book cafes. So, it’s a model that works for us. We like to encourage books more than coffee. But coffee is inevitable because a lot of people like to spend time over a coffee, like to sit in a coffee shop and spend an hour or two over there. That’s an experience I would like people to also have. It’s a model that works for us.

As a bookseller, are there any significant changes in reading patterns that you have noticed among your audience?

The audience has now changed a bit. The old world when you were growing up or I was growing up probably, our parents started reading more after they went into semi-retirement from 45-50 years onwards. But now, the trend has changed. The readership age has been reduced to around 25- 35 years, that is the most positive age now for people to read. That is a very happy change because if the readership age comes down, it means readership is increasing. If you see the pattern, sales in bookshops have gone up nationally. If you see 2019-20 and 2022-23, you will see a significant change in sales of 15%, which is a very positive sign.

Can we see Bahrisons having a presence at the Kolkata Book Fair this year?

I won’t be able to because we are so new to the city. Maybe next year we will have a beautiful outlet over there. But I’m not too sure that this is justified for us this year because we are still trying to find our bearings in the city. But nonetheless, when the mela comes up, most people from Kolkata will enjoy the selection from all over the world only for those two weeks. But I want to give them the same experience the whole year round. I think that is the positivity that I will bring to the city. I want readers in Kolkata to have access to brand new books the whole year.