Crosswords in Bangalore. Pic courtesy:Kishore
This last post reminded me how much I rue the fact that Sri Lanka doesn't have good book stores. The Vijitha Yapa is not really a book store, it's a small book-shop. There's no place to just chill, read a few pages of the book you want to buy while you sip a cup of coffee.What's my ideal book store? It should have preferabaly, the following:
- Lots of books (duh! - but a good collection of politics/econ books is a must and for that to hapen your book store must be large)
- Comfy places to sit around and read, your book store should double as a sort of a library.
- Coffee.
- Wi-fi or a way in which you can read reviews. (same goes for my ideal DVD-store)
- Some things other than books -- DVDs, and other little 'things' you can buy (not essential really, but good business stratergy)
There maybe reasons for this though, India (according to some) has the world's largest English speaking population. With 350 million speakers, that's more than the combined populations of the U.S., U.K, Canada and Australia put together. Sri Lanka's whole population is about 20 million, about the same as Mumbai's total population. Fortunately or unfortunately, laws of demand and supply apply to everything. But then again, given all those coffee houses and up-market cafe's, I'm sure there is a market for a decent book store.
3 comments:
Landmark in chennai is another good bookstore which stocks loads of books. There is no place to sit down and read or browse. They have a huge collection of DVDs and kids section as well.....
We do really need something like that here soon.....
that is why i like second hand bookshops..u can walk around the place,, read books enjoy even the smell of coffee (if there is a cafe).. and you are not obliged to buy..
on the other hand places like WHSmith or Vijitha Yapa ( SL version of WHS) are more like fast outlets like KFC etc.. where books are more treated like consumable items which are meant to be merely consumed and not treated as holders of intellectual (or otherwise) substance..
Santhoshi, both B&T and crosswords have places to chill.
Auf, sure machang but second-hand books are, well, second hand. You don't get fresh stuff. ;)
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