Heartbeat: Champaca books
Independent businesses before and after COVID-19 lock down
Independent businesses before and after COVID-19 lock down
Champaca was the dream book store for book lovers. Other than the store it had a library and cafe. The lockdown forced it to shut. It reopened again.
Radhika Timbadia is the founder Champaca. She had founded it after 2.5 years of planning and leaving her job. Champaca sold about 1000 books in six weeks. It showed how people are eager to buy books.
In a podcast interview she said, “I wanted a quiet space to exist to read a book along with the coffee. The current space is in the middle of the city and quiet. Our niche is community, different than others. We have 40% women writers.”
As per Hard Copy Champaca has reopened. It won’t get pre lockdown footfalls. It has launched a subscription service. For INR 899 per month the subscribers will receive three books. It also plans to launch a book club and online events. Book lovers will miss its cafe and community events.