Dilip Mahindkar has been selling books for more than two decades at Flora Fountain. Photos: Nascimento Pinto
After passing his class 12 exams in Kolhapur more than 20 years ago, Dilip Mahindkar came to Mumbai in search of a job. He started working at a roadside bookstall in Churchgate but soon after learning the trade in six months, opened his own bookstall along the now-defunct Central Telegraph Office. At the time, he used to earn Rs 40 per day.
However, he had to soon move after the BMC made it a no-hawker zone. So, he got an official licence for his bookshop, for where it is situated today, facing Flora Fountain. Today, Mahindkar has a sizeable space on the footpath that houses thousands of books, and gets main book enthusiasts.
Mahindkar caters to every kind of reader and has many popular titles from Indian authors such as Amish Tripathi, Sudha Murty and more recently Akshat Gupta, who is becoming really popular with the Indian mythology enthusiasts. As far as the international authors are concerned, Colleen Hoover, Holly Jackson and Lisa Jewell are extremely popular and more women are buying their books.
With most of his customers being college students, he also lets them rent the books, and gives them a discount of Rs 10 - Rs 20, when they return the book and take another book from him the next time.
After business was affected during the Covid-19 pandemic, Mahindkar decided to sell books at Rs 100 because he realised a lot of people were facing difficulty buying books, and so was he with money. Ever since, he made the business decision, books at his stall have been selling like hot cakes. Mahindkar also has other books that are rare to find that are priced more than that, but readers and bargain and get them for a good deal.
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