Ranchi, April 11: As the long summer months begin, the second hand bookshops in the city start drawing crowds. With schools and colleges closing for summer vacations, bookworms frequent these shops. You can find them browsing the outlets in search of a rare novel or textbook.

“Business doubles up in summer. Not only novels and fiction, students also buy textbooks after colleges reopen. Although we do not keep books for school children, parents come looking for reference books,” said one of the shop owners.

One of the main reasons behind the popularity of second hand books is their price. They are priced at one fourth the price of fresh stocks.

“A physics book that costs Rs 200 in the market is available here at half the price. Besides, there is always scope for bargaining as they have a lot of profit margin,” said Dipanshu, an intermediate student.

The second hand stores also serve as libraries to book lovers. The books are sold and a due date is marked on the back page. On returning the books within the due date, customers get back half the price, which they had paid for it. They can also exchange it with another book. Thus, these shops help a lot in developing reading habits among children.

“Their collection is quite good. Apart from works of Sydney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Harold Robbins, Ken Follet, John Grisham and Arthur Halley, classics are also available. One has to search a bit. I love reading. But, being still a student, I cannot afford to buy new books, as they are very expensive. The average price of a novel is Rs 500,” said Pratik, a student of DAV Shyamli.

School children also get materials for their project work on different subjects.

There are also others who haunt the shops for some old magazines that have important pictures or information in them. Hritik Ganguly, a student of interior decoration based in Bangalore, often finds ideas and inspiration by leafing through the pages of old fashion magazines.

“Interior decoration is a creative field. Our marks for the final examination are based on innovation. But it is not possible to come up with new ideas all the time. These magazines help me,” said Ganguly.

Gudri Mohalla is the oldest and most popular old book mart of the town. Other old markets spread across the town include the ones near the Urdu Library in Main Road, near Women’s College and Plaza Chowk. The Mohalla has 12 such bookshops. The oldest among them is India Old Bookstore.

Owner of the shop Mohammed Shahbaz Alam said, “My father, Mohammed Salimuddin, started this business 55 years ago when there were no other such shops in the city. The profit made by him inspired many to follow suit.”

“Books are collected from raddiwalas in bulk. The books are also bought from people who sell it after their requirement is over, or, are procured from dealers who sell old stocks at cheaper rate. Sometimes they are bought from Calcutta and Delhi markets,” said Alam.