Whodunnits...and other stories

RETAIL: Shoppers' Stop will now own all Crossword book stores, but the competition might well be over a cup of coffee.

Bookstores have a romantic ideal in most readers minds, but though publishers suggest there's a rising trend in book-buying, the retail end "" especially in its chain model "" hasn't yet grown into an identifiable mindspace.

That may be set to change with Shoppers' Stop becoming the master franchisee for Crossword Bookstores, a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of the company.

So far, the existing bookstores were owned either by Crossword or by external franchisees. No more.

Explaining the agreement, Aniyan Nair, head-operations and marketing, Crossword, said,"Shoppers' Stop will help leverage the scale and services of Crossword in terms of distribution, logistics management and marketing" to increase operational efficiencies and bring down costs.

For now, there are 35 Crossword stores (of which 17 are franchisees) but the company is targetting 42 stores by the end of the year.

"In five years we expect to have 100 stores across the country," said Nair. For 2005-06, the company's retail sales were about Rs 80 crore and it is looking at ending this year with Rs 110 crore.

The Oxford Book Store has a smaller cache as far as retail spread goes, but it too has a national presence, and will soon add a second Oxford in Kolkata (the country's sixth).

Says Rajiv Chowdhry, CEO, "We have positioned ourselves as a serious bookstore for voracious readers."

As part of its strategy to develop the market, Oxford has an Oxford Club membership scheme that entitles members to avail of offers by logging up frequent buying points.

Related activities like theatre performances and film screenings are part of the package. Competition, says Choudhary, is from similar stores, such as Landmark, though with Landmark diversifying into other areas, the rivalry is less pitched.

While it's natural for bookstores to battle for book sales, an interesting pitch is their association with a cup of tea or coffee and a bite. Oxford stores have their popular Cha-Bars, the Corner Book Store has a tie-up with Barista, and now Crossword is likely to have its Cafe Brio at all upcoming outlets.

Besides serving coffee, Crossword will expand its presence in the southern market with stores scheduled to come up in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore over the next months.

This would be across all three formats with flagship stores (8,000+ sq ft), brand stores (5,000-8,000 sq ft), and corner stores. The bulk of the expansion will be in the corner and brand niches. Clearly, location is key when it comes to telling what's between the covers of an attractive jacket.