Oxford Bookstore
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With over 85-year-old rich history in book retailing, Oxford Bookstore, Kolkata enjoys an iconic status among booklovers in eastern India. Earlier known as Oxford Book & Stationery Co, the store was owned by the Primlani family of Sind. On the occasion of its Platinum Anniversary in 1995, the store was recreated as Oxford Bookstore-Gallery, now under the aegis of Apeejay Oxford Bookstores Private Limited, an integral part of the diversified industrial conglomerate, the Apeejay Surrendra Group. With operations now in Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Goa, Oxford Bookstore has redefined the concept of book retailing and reading at the turn of the century.
In its new avatar, 'much more than a bookstore', it became a contemporary, multidimensional experience in keeping with the international trends. The new facilities included well-stocked and well-researched book sections, India's first Alternative Art Gallery and top of the line amenities and services. It had reinvented itself to celebrate the "word.
The mission of Oxford Bookstore is to be the best equipped ‘base-camp’ for journeys of the mind by offering our valued customers the widest range of titles, and consistently courteous and informed service. We function on the principle that browsing among books is the perfect antidote to the stress of today’s times.
Committed to bringing the best in international publishing and book retailing to India, Oxford Bookstore has carved out a niche retail identity over the years. Leveraging on relationships built over 80 years with various publishers and focusing on scale, depth and quality, Oxford offers an outstanding collection of books from key players in the industry like Penguin India, Oxford University Press and Harper Collins. World’s largest publisher of Art books, Thames and Hudson (UK), came in with exclusive support to bring the latest titles to the discerning booklovers of India. These numerous enriching volumes displayed in a comfortable and quiet auburn golden-lit ambience tempt not only booklovers but tempt all and sundry to explore a refreshingly novel experience that Oxford Bookstore has to offer.
At Oxford Bookstore, you enter a vibrant space, brimming with energy and ideas in bound volumes. The various sections including Fiction, Literature, Travel, Cookery, Health, Yoga/Tantra/Reiki, New Age, Religion, Children, Art & Architecture, Business, Indian writing in English, Reference, Vernaculars and Nature, are organized for easy accessibility. Between the different sections are specially designed seating areas where one can sit and browse through books in privacy and comfort. Daylight tubes and low placed spots accentuating various areas add to the ambient lighting while hinting at the drama within the packed volumes.
Catering to all age groups and professions, Oxford also brings an enviable collection of nearly 1000 magazines in Mumbai and around 500, 450 and 250 magazines in Bangalore, New Delhi and Kolkata respectively. These sections are extremely popular with at least 60-70% being foreign publications on politics, economics, architecture, fashion, sports and a host of other subjects. The stores especially offer the best selection of magazines on Design and Art.
For a rejuvenating pause in between discovering books at Oxford Bookstore, the CHA BAR has been introduced at the Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi stores. Here a person can unwind with a hot cup of tea and reflect on things he or she has just discovered in the company of the books.
The CHA BAR is another pioneering attempt at revolutionizing and revitalizing the tea story and bringing it alive in a novel way in contemporary settings. The bar creates a quality space for tea, tea related products. The CHA BAR brews a wide selection of Indian and international blends including Organic teas, Chamomile and Hibiscus, Green teas, Chinese Green and Japanese Green, Ayurvedic Teas, Brahmi and Karma and Cultural preparation, Moroccan Mint and Arabic Spice. Reawakening the old idea of literary cafes with a fresh perspective, the cha bar is the favourite haunt of the youth and celebrities alike.
Some of its regular and devoted visitors Amitav Ghosh, Amit Chaudhari, Mahasweta Devi, Ruskin Bond, Gurcharan Das, Jeremy Seabrook, Sudha Murty, Sagarika Ghose, Pritish Nandy, Mark Tully, Shobhaa De, MJ Akbar, Shekhar Gupta, Ramachandra Guha, Mridula Garg, Aniruddha Bahal, Shashi Deshpande, Victor Banerjee, Aparna Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, Konkona Sen Sharma, Tabu, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Nafisa Ali, Javed Akhtar, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha. The august circle also includes Phiroza Godrej, Paritosh Sen, Shuvaprassana, Nandan Nilenkani, Sanjeev Goenka, Harsh Neotia, Russi Modi, Yogesh Deveshwar, B.K.Birla, Simone Tata, Kumar Mangalam Birla, H.E. Viren Shah, Former Governor of WB, Maneka Gandhi, George Fernandes and H.E. Lt.Gen.S.K.Sinha Governor of Assam.
The music section at Oxford Bookstores has also elicited a positive response from several customers. Promoting a range of eco-friendly and new age stationary items the exclusive gifts section enlists high sales at all the stores. Apart from Malani Ramani, Vivek Sahni and Natasha Nanda’s designs, and the gift section stocks a wide range of items from CRY and other NGOs. The assortments of our special branded merchandise from Oxford Bookstore and CHA BAR have added to the fresh appeal of this section.
Venturing into e-tailing, Oxford Bookstore launched an effective e-commerce model on September 22, 2000. The online book mall, www.oxfordbookstore.com stocks over six million book and music titles bringing to serious bookworms a continuously updated selection of the best of Indian and foreign music at competitive prices. The site also gives you news of all the latest publications, provides you with in-depth reviews of books and music and features exclusive interviews with celebrity authors.
In 2001, www.oxfordbookstore.com announced the launch of e-Author version 1.0, an innovative online talent search competition with the objective to provide a literary platform to budding writers where their talents will be tested and rewarded. With the tremendous success of this annual online event, Rupa & Co. came aboard as the co-sponsor from the second year. The total prize money now is a whopping Rs. 100,000. The competition is already into its fourth year and the eminent panel of judges for this year include Ashok Mahadevan, Former Editor, Reader’s Digest (India); Diya Kar Hazra, Senior Commissioning Editor, Penguin Books India; Jairam Ramesh, MP, Columnist & Author; Kunal Basu, Author; Samit Basu; Author and Swapan Dasgupta, Journalist.
In the previous years, celebrated authors including Amitav Ghosh, Taslima Nasrin, Samik Bandopadhyay, Sudha Murthy, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation, Ms Shashi Deshpande, Ms Githa Hariharan, Ms Anita Nair, Mr Aniruddha Bahal Vikram Chandra, Amit Chaudhuri and Shobhaa De have been judges at this unique online contest.
Computerworld Smithsonian Honors Archives & Academic Council recognized the path breaking work done by Oxford Bookstore as a completely integrated online offline bookstore in the country by nominating it in the Business and Services category of the 2003 Computerworld Honors Collection.
Integrated within the stores are exhibition and performance spaces that ensure easy flow of ideas interaction between people and various creative forms during Book and Author events, art exhibitions, film discussions, lectures, performance arts and other gatherings. Renowned authors such as Dominique Lapierre, William Dalrymple, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Nagrakar, Kiran Bedi, Alyque Padamsee, Shobha De, Amit Chaudhuri, Rajkamal Jha, Amitav Ghosh, Jairam Ramesh, Gulzar and Sudha Murty have chosen Oxford Bookstore to launch their books and conduct reading sessions and signings in its Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore branches.
With our objective to create a platform for young and amateur theatre groups and artistes, the Oxford theatre club, Dialogue was launched in Mumbai on September 25, 2003. Eminent theatre personalities like Pune-based theatre actor Rajashree Sawant Lad, Vishaal Asrani, Devika Shahani, Neville Dadachanji and the amateur-theatre group, NATS have treated us to their stellar performances. The forum, with free entry for everyone, has received active support from theatre enthusiasts such as Feroz Khan, critic Jiten Merchant, actor Cyrus Merchant.
The stupendous success of Dialogue encouraged us to launch other clubs such as Cha Writers (Oxford Writers’ Club) for aspiring authors, Black Pencil - Sketch an Idea (Oxford Design Club) and Flash (Oxford Film and Photography Club), Sketch (Oxford Art Club), Oxygen (Oxford IT Club) for bright and talented amateurs in the respective fields. Oxford Booklovers Club was also started recently to encourage discussion and interaction amongst booklovers on their choice of books.
Constantly innovating to keep pace with the emerging trends, Oxford Bookstore curates events that work in synergy with the tastes of serious readers as well as the Gen-X. A host of young adults’ events such as Ilan & Idyl with popular fashion designer, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, the inter-college Oxford Sports Quiz in Kolkata and health events like Ox-y-Gen in Mumbai have received wide media appreciation and participation.
The biggest curated event, Reading Kamasutra 2003, held across all the three stores, aimed to create an informed awareness about ‘Kamasutra’. It also questioned traditional concepts about sexuality, and how it affected relationships and other related issues. In 2005, Karmasutra, a chain of events was held across all the bookstores to create awareness on the new age concepts and ideas. This was followed by a month–long national kids’ festival, Head Over Heels that combined fun and learning through the various activities and events. CelebraTEEN, a series of events curated especially for teenagers to encourage the habit of reading along with fun and learning at the same time.
Such events provide a unique creative forum for authors, connoisseurs of art and serious booklovers to engage in a lively exchange of ideas in an informal atmosphere. With increased reading habits, such events encourage young readers and enthusiasts to participate in them and identify with Oxford Bookstore.
The success of Oxford can be attributed to the combination of enterprise and vision, tradition and state-of-the-art technology and the very best in books services and amenities. The Oxford story will continue and we will soon be there in all the major metros and mini metros of India.
