Sales always high for old books, say pavement sellers

CHENNAI: his year, the book fair has gained more traction, which is encouraging, claim traders on the pavement selling books, mostly second-hand.

Certain book lovers are fond of old and used books rather than buying new books. Plus, old books are cheaper.

“Old editions are rarely available in stalls. But we sell them, which attracts bibliophiles. There are as many customers who purchase only used books as are those who want the new ones. So there is an equal amount of sales here and inside the stalls at the book fair,” explained S Ayyappan, a seller outside. Books are sold at a minimum rate of Rs 20 and at a maximum of Rs 70. So, paying rent for setting up a stall inside is not monetarily feasible.

“Prices of books here are much lesser when compared to the books sold inside the fair. Another reason is that many books are not printed over a period of time. Sellers here have those books, and most are in good condition even if they’re old,” said Selva Kumar, a regular customer to the fair.

Though sales have been encouraging, pavement sellers are hopeful it would spike during the weekend and Pongal holidays. “In the last 20 years I’ve been setting up outside the book fair, I’ve seen the number of readers increase at a higher rate. During the rains, some of the books were destroyed and it was a loss of revenue. But we expect that during the weekends and the Pongal holidays, we can compensate,” said A Valayapathi, a seller. Pavement sellers are no slouch in stocking up on books of almost all genres, especially the most popular ones. Thanks to the book fair and its popularity among the public, they have good sales every year, as the number of buyers only keep increasing.

BAPASI secretary SK Murugan said, “Pavement sellers are not authorised by us and they set up shop themselves. Only the stalls which are set up in the ground are authorised by BAPASI. Sale of books in the pavement does not affect the sale in the stalls here.”