Nepalese Bookstores: Turning A new Chapter amidst COVID

“I didn’t really have many issues ordering books even during the lockdown, I didn't want to go physically to a bookstore due to obvious reasons, hence I preferred to order online and the entire transaction was rather smooth, I browsed the book through their website, ordered and paid online and the guy who came to deliver did so taking necessary sanitary precautions. Even though the lockdown persisted, I got to read my books!” exclaims Asmi Shrestha, an avid bibliophile.

Similarly many book store businesses seem to have adapted to the new norms, transitioning their business unto a more online platform to suit the delivery needs of their buyers. The lockdown and subsequent restrictions that followed, shut down business and even more severely impacted these businesses that rely upon the influx of people into their stores, browsing through countless titles and genres to purchase them.

“The lockdown affected us a lot, we primarily rely on a mixed target audience of locals and tourists being based in Thamel. However due to the lockdown, we’ve had to change strategies regarding what audience we look to garner. For the lockdown, we’ve started home deliveries of the books that our readers buy. Daraz has been a huge help in this process, helping us list our books and sell them quite easily. We’re also working on our own website soon. We need to move the business online alongside our physical store as well. Due to COVID the reading habit amongst people seems to have gone up a lot which is amazing for them and for our venture as well.” says Kahani Tiwari, the General manager of Pilgrim’s Book Store.

Other businesses too seem to have been impacted similarly but adapted differently, “The COVID and the losses it incurred upon the world and us have set us and many businesses like us back 4-5 years. We did do deliveries like the other book stores through Daraz, after restrictions were eased patrons who love reading find a way to come anyhow to buy books, that's how we’ve been maintaining sales says Raman Raut the Manager of Educational Book House.

While some bookstores are rightfully now looking to online avenues, BooksMandala thrived through the use of its website during COVID, in conversation with the proprietor of Books Mandala, Prem Prasad Sharma, he explains how operating his business through the website was immensely helpful during the lockdown, “Obviously you couldn’t go out during the lockdown, hence having a very well design website and a proper delivery service through the website helped a lot. Sales aren't still at the levels pre-COVID but the online business is promising. Even though we’re based in Pokhara, 80% of our traffic we get from Kathmandu and the deliveries we make there too. So we’ve even opened up a small distribution hub for all the deliveries we received during the lockdown. '' he informs.