New Delhi’s iconic bookstore, The Bookshop, will end a long, storied chapter of its life on October 31. But as the shop in Jor Bagh Market closes, some staff will open another store, The Bookshop Inc, in nearby Lodhi Market.
As a business entity, The Bookshop Inc will be a new and different enterprise from the one that owned and ran The Bookshop. However, one former partner and some staff – Sonal Narain, Mahika Chaturvedi, and Sohan Singh – will be in charge of the shop with its uniquely curated collection that has long made it a haunt for lovers of serious literature in the capital.
On Sunday, Rachna Singh, founder KD Singh’s daughter announced the closing down of The Bookshop in social media posts, setting off a flurry of comments from booklovers in the capital, expressing their regret. She wrote, “It is with sadness that I would like to announce that on 31 October 2023 The Book Shop will down its shutters – and we will dissolve the partnership that owns it.”
The Bookshop was started by KD Singh in 1971, and orginally used to run from two locations, one in the Jor Bagh market and another in Khan Market. After Singh’s death in 2014, his family, including his wife Nini KD Singh, remained involved with the Jor Bagh store. Singh had closed down the one in Khan Market in 2006.
After Singh’s death, it was Narain who took over the running of The Bookshop, which she had joined in 2001, when she walked into the Khan Market branch and asked Singh for a job. In 2011, when she returned after a brief sabbatical, Singh offered her a partnership in the business. After his death, she operated as managing partner till the end of the partnership that ran The Bookshop.
The Bookshop Inc will be run by owner and curator Sonal Narain, creative director Mahika Chaturvedi, sales associate Nishad Sen, and operations manager Sohan Singh.
Note: The headline of this article has been changed and some of the text edited for clarity.