The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : A goldmine in used books

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Friday, Jan 09, 2009
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Kerala - Kochi

A goldmine in used books

M. P. Praveen

KOCHI: Not all old pages are trash. Some sell, just like new ones. The used book market in the city is blooming.

There are many takers for used books, if one goes by the number of shops offering them in the city.

Things did not look all that bright when Abdul Latheef opened his shop Blossom at the Press Club Road.

“Eight bookstalls had just shut shop. I was really nervous about the future,” he recollects.

Besides, a used bookstore was not a much-treaded path either. He is thankful to the readers of the city for proving him wrong. He is all set to open his second shop.

For Latheef, it all began with his belief that books do not lose their sheen on changing hands that fuelled his passion for collecting books, both used and new ones, even before they became a source of livelihood for him.

Exposure to used book shops during his stint in the Middle East led him to this profession. This ensured that he maintained a touch of class to his shop.

But for someone looking only at books with cheaper price tags, options are aplenty. Says Krishnakumar, a diehard fan of pulp fiction, “I browse through titles at the used book shops at Pallimukku. The only attraction here is the price.”

Even in shop like Latheef’s, the biggest attraction, of course, was the price with the discount ranging between 30 and 70 per cent with old books attracting the highest discount.

So how does he offers such low prices? When the shop is run on a 250 sq.ft. room instead of a 2,500 sq.ft. space it cuts down overheads on many counts from power consumption to the number of staff. The benefit so derived is passed on to the customers, he says.

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