We have managed to copy the West’s café culture quite well, why can’t we do the same with their bookstores?
KARACHI: Why are there so few bookstores in Karachi? Examples from the Western world include Barnes and Nobles in the US and Chapters in Canada. The bookstores were inviting to say the least; offering coffee, comfortable couches for people to read and a relaxing atmosphere. People came, read for hours, with no obligation to purchase anything. Why don’t we have such bookstores in Pakistan?
There is obviously no dearth of investment when it comes to upscale sheesha bars, coffee shops, late night lounges, high-end restaurants or pricey malls. So, money is definitely not an issue.
I presume the answer that people will give to my question is that there simply isn’t enough demand — that people are just not interested anymore in the culture of reading and writing. We have managed to copy the West’s coffee/café culture quite well here, why can’t we do the same when it comes to their bookstores?
Rafay Bin Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2012.
