Best collection of their books, Best Books at Lakdi-ka-pul, Hyderabad by D Suiam

Note: This is a series on independent bookstores especially those who stood strong during the pandemic. 

Best Book Centre is one of the existing book stores in the city of Hyderabad, which started in the ’90s. It started as a leisure activity for book collectors, Hamed Ali and his brother Ahmed Ali. Now it has become the main source of the family income. 

In 1997, Hamed started as a student who wanted to earn some pocket money. Like many youngsters, Hamed struggled to figure out what to do, as he didn’t like the idea of working under someone. He decided to begin with a part-time earning by opening a bookstore in the neighbourhood. Hamed and Ahmed did not have enough resources to start with, so they start with all the books that they collected and put up a small store in Lakdi-ka-pul, Hyderabad. And so from there the unique gem was found by the brothers and named after their best collection of books as the Best Book Centre. They began with a small space in Lakdi-ka-pul and spread their wings into other two parts of the city, Abids and Secunderabad.

As years passed, the market changed its nature drastically, so did the readers in this city. 

The e-commerce platform had a huge impact on the bookstores in the city but the Best Book Centre stood still and adjusted to the change in the market and created a site to present their book online and made it easy for their reader to get their favourite book from the comfort of their home. But still, the young readers of the city have adapted to the technology to an extent that has affected the bookstore badly.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Best Book Centre was hit even more and the store needed to be closed for a few months, as books are not considered as essential commodities. The sales had gone down to 50 per cent and one of their stores (Secunderabad) got closed. 

Though online sales were allowed, Best Book centre couldn’t get into the e-commerce world like every other store because of their unique idea of reselling old books. However, they took a huge step by starting their eCommerce web site but it was futile. After lockdown, they operated for a few hours according to government rules and regulations and included home delivery. The brothers invite all the readers out there to come and check the store, find your gem, and support their family.

Best Book Centre has 70 categories and about fifty thousand books available in-store, many of these books in the store are unique which are mostly not available in another store and can’t be found in any of the e-commerce platforms, Best Book centre holds its popularity in fiction, non-fiction, historical, religious, general knowledge, self-help, children's books and more. Sales of books in each category are different every month.

But let’s not forget that this bookstore holds a niche category, to promote reselling old books to save our environment, and also promoting Indian culture, literature and history. They provide all books at a special Indian price and many of these books are not to be found online or in any other store.

Website: Best Books Centre

Map of the store: https://goo.gl/maps/oSa2mfo8co7sDJsv8
Timings: 11 am to 9 pm, everyday

Bio note:

 


D Suiam is a Student of Bachelor in Commerce from Osmania University, Hyderabad. Born and raised in Jaintia hills, Meghalaya where he completed his high school in Navodaya. Reading and writing have been a part of his life since middle school and he also enjoys travelling around places and coffee.