South Mumbai’s Iconic Strand Book Stall To Roll Down Its Shutters This Month. Digitisation To Blame?

In 2003, the year renowned scholar TN Shanbagh, was honoured with a Padma Shri, he said: “A bookseller acts as a catalyst between a book and the reading habit.” It was this belief which drove sales at the two-shelf stall Shanbagh set up at Strand Cinema in Colaba on November 20, 1948, and later at its bookstore avatar in Fort.

But now the iconic 70-year-old store — which never changed its original name Strand Book Stall and became famous for its never-ending discount offers — is preparing to roll down its shutters for the last time — on February 27, Shanbagh’s ninth death anniversary.

“Rumours (about Strand closing down) have been floating around for a while, but those were false. This time, they are true,” Shanbagh’s daughter, Vidya Virkar, told Mirror on Tuesday. “Bookstores around the world have succumbed to digitisation and we are not untouched by this wave.”Click Here: Aston Villa Shop