A small bookstore operating out of a posh south Delhi colony market has decided to down shutters after 30 years, with the owner citing difficulties of keeping pace with new buying trends.
'Fact and Fiction', a quaint store nestled in the Basant Lok market in Vasant Vihar here was once always packed with bookworms who were drawn to its eclecticism.
Ranging from children's books, classics, to translations the store was the go-to for people looking for new arrivals as well as rare books. The shop stocks itself with books on literary fiction, religion, cinema and philosophy besides those on travel, music, science, history, wild life, cookery, ecology and economics besides poetry.
"The world has changed and so have people. They are not many people coming to the shop these days as was the case a few years ago. And as most of the book buyers have shifted to e-commerce profits of bookshops have gone down. That is why I am being compelled to close the shop down" says Ajay Vikram Singh the owner.
A die-hard bibliophile Singh is fastidious about what he stocks taking care to populate store shelves with eclectic books and those which are not readily available.
Inside the shop there are hardly any signs demarcating the sections but that poses no challenge for regulars.
"As our customers are frequent visitors they could easily recognise the specific shelves, stocking up the books they wanted" says Singh.
The owner often helps readers sift through the titles to get the book they were hunting for.
