Sales at bookstores across the city have seen an increase of 30 to 40% in recent months, after successive COVID-19 disruptions. At bigger stores, around 50,000 to 70,000 books are being sold in a month while medium-sized stores are selling at least 30,000 books a month. While millenialls and IT professionals were the prominent customers in the pre-pandemic days, now the store owners have reported selling to the Gen Z crowd.
More young customers have also meant an increase in demand for genres of books for young adults. Non-fiction books, mainly finance and self-help related, also happen to be popular among the readers. “I think we were all pretty lost during the pandemic, so it felt enlightening to read up on mental health, actually,” says Disha, a bookworm.
“We have added on many new customers the last few months. We have had youngsters, who are also first-time readers, asking us for recommendations. Most of them want non fiction books only,” said Krishna of Bookworm on Church Street.
