Book lovers find solace in stores to satisfy their yearnings for reading but certain influences are contending with the thriving of bookshops, writes GBENGA ADENIJI
Fisayo Ilori was an undergraduate in one of the federal universities in the South-West six years ago. He used to purchase textbooks at a bookshop located along Isale Oja area in Agege area of Lagos State whenever he was on break. After his National Youth Service Corps programme in Kwara State in 2010, he returned to Lagos.
On a particular day, he needed to buy a textbook for one of his siblings and wasted no time in rushing to the bookstore. To his surprise, the building housing the bookshop had not only been renovated, it also now houses sellers of carpets, building materials and household electronics.
This scenario shows the fate bookshops currently suffer. They are gradually becoming a scarce commodity in some areas such as Ojuelegba, Iyana Ipaja, Ikeja, Ebute Meta, where they were once visible.
A bookseller in Oshodi, Rufus Atubos, said books no longer get patronage like before. He said it was becoming hard to see people requesting for books because they want to read it for leisure.
Rufus said, “One thing I have noticed in this business of selling books is that parents and guardians rush to purchase books for their children especially those in primary schools when resumption is near. I think one of the reasons books do not get high patronage like before is because some pupils prefer to use the money given to them to buy books for something else.’’
Another bookseller in Oshodi area who identified himself as Akatuwa stated that each time schools resume, mathematics, verbal and quantitative reasoning books for primary school pupils are always in high demand.
He also said though people complain about the quality of the books they sell, they do not sell pirated books. Akatuwa added that they only sell books they get from importers.
He said, “There is a dictionary we sell. It is one of the advanced editions. A particular type is gummed while the other is sewn with a thread. The first one can break during opening and the other one can last for sometime depending on how it is handled. We tell our customers the two types if they want to buy. The choice is theirs.”
The experience a journalist had while buying a dictionary from one of the booksellers in Oshodi countered the claim of Akatuwa.
The journalist, who preferred to be anonymous, said he once bought a pirated dictionary near Oshodi Bridge only to discover that half of the words therein were written in Chinese and translated into English.
In Oshodi, most of the bookshops are located in the inner part of the market. As a survival strategy, most of the bookshops visited also sell stationery.
They employ sales agents who usually take some of the books to the main road to scout for customers. When a customer requests for a particular book which is not among the ones with them, they ask the customer to follow them to their shops.
Another bookseller, Ifeanyi Agwu, who sells in Ikeja, said they sell books based on request.
He said, “People do not buy books except when it is very important. A customer once came to my shop and said most of the books we sell are available on the Internet and that if a book costs too much, he would go online to find it.’’
Most of the bookshops in the area are best described as ‘stationery stores’ because they have more of writing materials than books. Angela Duru, who sells in one of the shops, told SUNDAY PUNCH that she added the sale of writing pads, pens, gums, calculators and envelopes to the book business when she noticed a drop in sales of books.
Duru said, “The demand for books is falling and we have to sell what is in hot demand. When people come here, they ask for stationery materials than books. So, we decided to add them to our stock. If they demand for books that we have, it will be an added profit for us.”
A Nigerian student studying in the University of Baltimore, Maryland, US, Mr. Tosin Agboola, attributed the dwindling fortunes of bookshops to rise in the use of Internet.
Agboola said while studying for a law degree in Nigeria, he only got photocopies of the prescribed books.
He added that with the advent of online platform, businesses have become expanded and no longer confined to the four corners of an office.
Agboola said, “Internet has broken down these walls and affords us the freedom of transacting business on our phones or laptops where ever and whenever. Some days ago, I called more than three bookstores because I needed a particular book but none delivered it. I eventually got the book online. It was cheaper and delivered to me within 24 hours.”
According to him, people will also prefer the Internet because one can find any book there depending on one’s budget.
He further said a classmate of his bought all her books online, spending $100 (N16,000) while another bought just one of those books for $200 (N32,000) and vowed never to buy from the bookstore again.
“This is just one of the many reasons. I will say you can always find someone who wants to sell his or her used book at an affordable price compared to that of a bookstore,” he said.
A student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Mr. Tunbosun Oriyomi, also said the nation’s harsh economy, technology, poor reading culture and non-availability of quality books among others cause low patronage of bookstores.
He noted that book fairs have come to bridge the gap even though some exhibitors at the fairs sometimes complain of poor patronage. According to him, organisers now take the fair campaigns to tertiary institutions.
Oriyomi said, “I think the age of technology is affecting the book business. Even some bookshops in highbrow areas stock literary, motivational and biographical books. These seem to be the ones selling and you do not expect them not to stock them. Generally, bookshops are no longer in vogue and if you visit some, you can hardly find serious academic books in them.”
Also, Mr.Tokunbo Akomolede, who recently completed his NYSC scheme, said eBooks have taken over whatever bookstores can offer. He stated that same trend was manifesting in the newspaper industry all over the world where online sites continue to pose a serious threat to the print media.
A lecturer in the Department of English, University of Lagos, Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, argued that people do not see any reason to buy books since they now read less.
He added that television and the Internet including ‘junk’ information also contribute to the development.
Pearse said, “The get-rich quick culture also explains why we are buying less books.’’
Punch
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