The 64-year-old bookshop, located at Deccan Gymkhana, announced that it was shutting down permanently. (Express Photo- Pavan Khengre)
Fifteen years ago, when bookstore chains such as Crossword and Landmark set up shop in Pune, Sunil Gadgil remained unfazed and didn’t worry about the future of his store, Popular Book House. It wasn’t until a decade later, when e-tailers like Flipkart and Amazon started making their presence felt, that he realised that his business may run into trouble.
On Friday, the iconic bookshop at Deccan Gymkhana, a favorite haunt of book lovers for 64 long years, announced that it was shutting shop permanently. “Chain bookstores didn’t pose a threat because we had a large base of loyal customers… we knew they wouldn’t go to any other bookstore. But a few years ago, when the e-tailers came in, we were not competing with bookshops any longer. We were dealing with something we couldn’t fight. People were getting major discounts… they were selecting books on apps and getting books delivered to their doorstep. There was no need to travel in traffic to a bookshop or worry about parking. Finally, when the number of customers on weekends dwindled from 70-100 to 10-20, we realised we had to let go,” said Sunil.
He made the announcement about the closure in an emotional message, sent to the store’s loyal customers, on Thursday night. Since then, the store’s phones haven’t stopped ringing and the walk-ins haven’t stopped. Some customers wish to make one last purchase, old customers have called in to express their grief, and some have enquired if Sunil could manage to pull along for a few more days.
Established in 1954 by Sunil’s father, Madhav Gadgil, PBH started off as a library and then transformed itself into a bookshop due to popular demand. After the small shop was damaged in the 1961 flood, Gadgil picked up the pieces and moved to a bigger shop. It is here that the bookstore reached the peak of its popularity, not just for the wide variety of books in its stock but also because it was the venue for a lot of book launches, including Sunil Gavaskar’s autobiography, Sunny Days, in 1971.
For years, the bookshop also used to be the sole distributor for international magazines like Time and Newsweek, with nearly 1,000 subscribers. “I used to carry them on my motorcycle and deliver them myself. But then India Today Group took over and started their own home delivery, and agents like us were cut out of the system. I think that was the first major blow to us,” said Sunil.
The decades between the 1970s to early 2000 were, according to Sunil, the best time for the business. “Books on a wide variety of subjects were in demand… everything from English fiction to sociology, politics, cookery and children’s books. Our customers sometimes included three generations of a family. The library continued to exist at the back of the store and was run by my brother. But it was shut down a few years ago after the number of members fell to 20-25,” he said.
Many efforts were made to keep the store going, said Sunil. PBH was probably the first bookshop in the city to become air-conditioned, computerise all its affairs and start selling books online. The last step was his worst mistake, he lamented.
“It was ahead of its time, people were not ready. They didn’t trust online transactions… the move backfired badly,” said Sunil. In the next few years, more efforts to keep up with the times followed – a weekly email to regular customers about new arrivals, Facebook updates, a WhatsApp group of ‘PBH friends’ and more. The store also started selling stationery, gift items and even serving coffee to accommodate the changing demands of customers.
But none of the steps taken or changes introduced by the store owners was enough to keep PBH afloat.
“It is a growing trend across the world… bookstores are shutting shop. People are simply losing the habit of reading… they have no time. Those who still read, prefer to buy books online. The business has been down for a while now. We kept it going for as long as we could, but for the last one year, we have been in withdrawal mode. It happened to the Strand Book Stall in Mumbai last week. The bigger stores in Pune, such as Manney’s and Modern, had already succumbed to it a few years ago. We finally gave in,” said Sunil.
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