Bengaluru bookstore loses up to 5,000 books after heavy rain floods shop
text_fields
Independent Bengaluru bookstore The Bookworm has lost between 4,000 and 5,000 books after heavy rainfall flooded the shop on Church Street on Wednesday.
The bookstore shared photographs on Instagram showing books floating in floodwater inside the premises, while hailstones were seen covering the ground outside. The flooding damaged a large portion of the store’s inventory.
Store proprietor Krishna told Deccan Herald that the timing worsened the losses as the shop had recently stocked up for the summer holiday season, which is typically a busy period for book sales. Much of the newly arrived stock was among the books destroyed.
Krishna said the store plans to salvage some of the damaged books by drying them in sunlight and selling them at discounted prices. However, many books are too badly damaged to be recovered and will have to be discarded.
He also pointed to the poor water resistance of modern recycled paper used by many publishers. According to Krishna, several illustrated comics, including Asterix and Obelix titles printed on oil-based paper, were completely unsalvageable.
The incident sparked strong reactions online, with readers and customers expressing sympathy and offering support. Several social media users encouraged people to buy damaged books from the store to help it recover financially.
Some commenters compared the situation to last year’s flooding at Kolkata’s College Street book market, where a public event called the Wet Book Fair drew crowds who purchased flood-damaged books in solidarity with affected sellers.
Others said they were willing to buy soiled books regardless of condition to support a bookstore they described as an important part of Bengaluru’s reading community.