Kunzum Bookstores || Ambitious Venture of an Entrepreneur who Dreams of Creating a Space for Authors and Readers

A few years ago, I had launched an initiative on Facebook known as "Back to Bookstores". During that time, we witnessed the closing down of several bookstores in India. But the closing down of Reliance Timeout, the only good bookstore in Rohini area, was the final trigger behind this initiative. At that time, we tried to support bookstores by organizing walk-ins and events at several bookstores. However, the initiative fizzled out over a few months. 

Now, several years after our last event of Back to Bookstores, I was reminded of that initiative when Ajay Jain of Kunzum Travel Cafe fame surprised the world by opening a series of bookstores at various locations in NCR. At present, two of the bookstores are already open - one in Gurgaon and the other in Vasant Vihar. The third is opening soon in GK. 

In an interview published on scroll.in, Ajay talks about how he arrived at the decision of opening bookstores. It started when Kunzum Travel Cafe had to close down during Pandemic. Ajay, who admits that his "foremost ambition has been, and continues to be, to write books and be recognised as an author,", zeroed in on the idea of retailing books in order to create a distribution channel for himself and his fellow writers. 

Another unique thing about Ajay's thought process is that he has purchased the sites for the bookstores that he has opened so far. His long-term plan is that once the bookstores are profitable, "the profits can be ploughed into taking up more spaces on lease and keep the business running everywhere.". 

So far I have had the opportunity to visit one of these bookstores - the one in Vasant Vihar - and the look and feel of the place is very welcoming. The bookstore is well-lit and painted in warm, pastel colors, the overall feel of the place is inviting. I held a small celebration of my book Loveflakes: Memories of Mirages here and got to be here for several hours in the process. 

They have a set of carefully curated books - I found some really quirky collections here, such as the entire Asimov Collection, Douglas Adam's Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, and even some *gasp* poetry books that are fast vanishing from Bookstores all over the world. It is an inspiring space. 

I happened to speak to Subir Dey, who is one of the curators at Kunzum, and the passion of the staff about the books is quite apparent. All this thought and passion reflects in the bookstores they are designing and creating. 

I asked Ajay whether he plans to open a shop in Noida as well. Though he doesn't have any solid plans about it yet, but he did share that he does want to. I am sure if he wants to, he will create one soon. While in Noida, we do have some bookstores, there just aren't enough. So a Kunzum Bookstore in Noida would definitely be welcome.