Lahore, Lyallpur book shops: Favouring doorstep delivery, Ludhiana residents ditch trips to bookstores

owners of lyall & lahore book shops — two of the Ludhiana’s oldest have seen a steep decline in footfalls in recent years

Having made the long and arduous journeys from Lahore and Lyallpur — now Faizalabad — to set up successful businesses in the city, two of the oldest book strokes in Ludhiana are suddenly finding it difficult to bridge the gap between their dusty shelves and their customers’ doorsteps.’

While Lahore Book Shop was founded in 1940 by Jiwan Singh, Lyall Book Shop came into existence under Lala Sunder Das in 1935; both moved their business to Ludhiana later. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Named after the cities where they were founded, the Lahore Book Shop and Lyall Book Shop are losing favour with customers — who are increasingly opting for one-day doorstep deliveries from online retailers and assorted online collections.

In a digital age, where social media has taken up a large chunk of people’s time, the same hardly comes off as surprising. The two once-frequented spots have resorted to supporting themselves through publishing business and legacy networks.

Lahore Book Shop, which was founded way back in 1940 by Jiwan Singh at Lahore’s Nisbat Road, is now located near Ludhiana’s Society Cinema. The Lyall Book Shop, meanwhile, shifted postal codes from Lyallpur to Ludhiana in 1950, when founder Lala Sunder Das decided to move to the current location at Chaura Bazar after running the shop at its original venue for 15 years.

Balwan Singh, who works at the Lyall Book Shop, which has branches in Bhopal, Chandigarh and New Delhi, says, “The youth are all for going abroad now and many youngsters come to buy books for IELTS, but nobody has any interest in reading other books.”

Off a rough measure, he says, the footfall has fallen to a paltry 10% of what it used to be around 10-15 years ago.

“Most people who come to buy motivational and business books bargain with us citing cheaper rates online. There are a lot of books that are pirated and we cannot compete with them,” Balwan says, before ruing the losses after being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic that forced the shop shut for a year. Footfall, he says, fell further since colleges and universities moved online.

“Now some parents bring their children to the shop to generate their interest in books but it is a difficult task,” he quips.

On being asked about the decline in reading culture, Gurmmanat Singh, the present owner of the Lahore Book Shop says, “It all started with the advent of television as a source of entertainment, then came the social media and internet, which led to opening up of various sources of knowledge outside of books.”

In addition to selling books, Lahore Book Shop has been involved in the publishing business since its inception and has churned out nearly 15,000 titles ranging from non-fiction, fiction, religious and coffee table books in both English and Punjabi.

It has published the works of some of Punjab’s most beloved authors in the form of Shiv Kumar Batalvi, Amrita Pritam, Prof Mohan Singh and Sant Singh Sekhon as well as contemporary names Khushwant Singh, Daman Kaur, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Captain Amarinder Singh.

Founder Jiwan Singh was a known name in literary circles in the pre-partitioned Punjab and printed a monthly magazine for Indian soldiers fighting in World War.

“We have been able to withstand the conditions because of our dedication and vision. We, as a publisher, are connected with 200 vendors and many institutions” he adds.

Pushed into a corner by online retailers initially, the bookstore decided to not cede any more space and launched a website of theirs — which draws considerable orders from rural areas and NRIs.

Lyal Book Shop’s founder, Lala Sunder Das, meanwhile, was known for his patronage to students and gave out reading material for free. Padma Vibhushan retired IAS officer NN Vohra was among those who was welcomed into the store with free books as a student.

In 1965, Lyal Book Shop also started its own publishing house under the name of Kalyani Publishers, which publishes academic textbooks and has over 3,000 titles.

While Lahore Book Shop continues to be best known for its collection on traditional Punjabi literature and history, Lyall Book Shop has carved a niche in English content. Their book sales might have taken a hit in recent years, but constant efforts to reinvent themselves have kept the old warhorses alive in the race.