Building a Charming Literary Nook
A recent Instagram post claimed that many writers or readers have, at some point or the other, harbored a certain dream: of running a bookstore-cum-cafe. After all, the enterprise is imbued with a romantic whimsy, perhaps bolstered by books and movies like Notting Hill (starring the droopy-eyed Hugh Grant), You’ve Got Mail (an endearing rehash of David vs. Goliath, wherein an indie bookstore takes on an evil chain), and 84, Charing Cross Road. Honestly, while talking to the spirited Radhika Timbadia at Champaca, an utterly enchanting indie bookstore tucked into a quiet cul-de-sac on Edwards Road, I felt like I was sliding into one of those romcoms.
Located on the rooftop of an elegant bungalow, you climb into Champaca vide a wrought-iron staircase. On your right, tall wooden bookshelves are stacked with books (all thoughtfully curated, some reads highlighted with personalized post-it notes), on your left, cappuccinos and cheesecakes are deftly passed through a serving hatch. Custom-built tables and chairs up ahead are girdled by the generous greens of an avocado tree. Keyboard clicks and customer murmurs occasionally give way to quieter noises, to rustling papers and the sighs of the old tree. Till a mother and her pony-tailed seven-year-old, squatted among round cushions on the floor – in the children’s library – break into giggles.
Before kickstarting Champaca, Radhika was an ecologist. Intrigued by her journey across places as far apart as Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu to Nairobi in Kenya, we chatted inside the children’s library, in the midst of barista sounds and nutty coffee whiffs.
Garnering Ecological Experiences
As a school-going kid attending a State-Board school in Mumbai, Radhika does not recall dreaming much about the future. She cherished books and enjoyed scampering outdoors. In particular, she remembers visiting a farm in Panvel with her father, before the region became densely built up. Many weekends were spent shinnying up trees and trampling through muddy treks. Quite naturally then, at college, she gravitated towards a field that fed into her love for nature. And opted to do a BSc in Botany, Chemistry, and Environmental Science at Mount Carmel’s in Bangalore.
On graduating, she joined the Conservation Action Trust, a non-profit based in Mumbai that protected mangroves from developmental infractions. From the island city, she headed to The Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in Periya in the Wayanad district, Kerala. At the sanctuary, which drove reforestation on the Western Ghats, she completed a landscapes and lifeskills course. From the rangy, monsoon-drenched coast, she ventured to a blisteringly-hot temple town. At Tiruvannamalai, she worked with The Forest Way, a team that restored forests on Arunachala Hill. Having garnered diverse reforestation and conservation experiences, she wished to hone her research skills. And opted to pursue a Master’s in Ecology at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK.
As a post-graduate, she worked for two years on bee conservation in Nairobi, Kenya; then joined the Nature Conservation Foundation in India, where she gleaned insights on snow leopard conservation in Ladakh and Spiti.
Founding Champaca
After her rich ecological stints in testy, resource-starved regions, Radhika was back in Bangalore. Seeking a career in situ, rather than one that required constant forays to remote places, she plumbed her other childhood passion: reading. She realized, soon enough, that the knowledge city did not possess enough bookstores. When it came to libraries, there was a similar void. Though she hadn’t run a business till then, she decided to start a bookstore and library, filling what she felt was a noticeable gap. When she first mooted the idea to family and friends, she was confronted by naysayers. One person said, “No one will give you money.” Others observed that she would find it hard to make ends meet, with having to pay rent and staff salaries.
Disregarding the gloomy takes, she founded Champaca in 2019, with about 5000 books and coffee, desserts & snacks to attract the foodies. The first few months were rather buoyant, with clients flocking to book-related events. But ten months after commencing the enterprise, she was struck, like many other new businesses, by a force majeure: the pandemic. Determined to keep the venture going, the first month after Covid lockdowns, she persuaded clients to buy gift vouchers.
Next month, she launched their website and initiated a subscription program. Fortunately, the pandemic also had a positive spinoff. Folks were holed up at home, and seeking materials to read. Designing their subscription program around inventive themes, like “Indian Translations”, “International Translations”, “Loneliness and Connection,” and “Reading India” – Champaca encouraged members to form a book club. Some meetings were held online and post Covid restrictions, in the store. The program currently has about 100 to 150 subscribers.
Handling Challenges
Before starting Champaca, Timbadia didn’t know the nuts and bolts about finance. She sensed that she needed to be hands-on while operating the store. In order to get a personal grip on the details, she started learning accounts. She says that she continues to hone her finance skills as the business evolves.
One of her other challenges involved hiring the right people. She chose to operate an all-women’s team. She currently employs about 10 women, of which three work part-time. She also runs a small store in Goa – which she opened in November 2022.
She observes that you get attached to certain employees, and then you have to contend with their loss when they quit for various reasons. In general, she has found that turnover is high in the food industry. But she ensures a growth path for all – not just for the book crew, but also for the café staff – to drive retention. When it comes to the former, she hires folks who are excited about books and reading. Such bibliophiles then master other skills that come with running a bookstore.
Underlining Team Contributions
Emphatic that her bookstore is a team effort, Timbadia credits the community of very talented women who help run the operation: Nirica Srinivasan who ran the store for three years, Thejaswi Shivanand and Kavya Murthy who are advisors; Premsakhi, Anjali, Shakti and her indispensable in-store staff comprising Sindhu, Hajira, Santosh and Manjula.
Fostering Little Readers
Radhika is zealous about promoting reading among the city’s littlest citizens. She launched the children’s library – which is part of the store – in 2019.
She also works with schools and helps with building school libraries; and trains librarians on cultivating reading and book-related activities. At the Champaca library, the team organizes a range of kids’ activities for various age groups. While the littler ones are stimulated with storytelling sessions or art activities, with older students, they read plays.
Curating Events & Books
For adult readers, the team curates a range of imaginative book-themed events like panel discussions, book launches, and writing workshops. Some activities foray beyond the bookstore into the city. Recently, they organized a saunter through Cubbon Park with Ahlawat Gunjan, author of “Slow is Beautiful”, an art journal that encourages “Mindful Living Through Nature.” And a #ReclaimConstitution walk with Vinay Kumar, a patent expert, who led walkers through a journey that retraced the steps of the nation’s constitution makers. They even hosted an embroidery workshop by Anuradha Bhaumick, an embroidery and textile artist, whose session at Champaca focused on embroidering books and readers.
Moreover, since the team is all women, they consciously highlight women authors and works that appeal to readers across the gender spectrum. Theirs is a business that organically subverts the male gaze, with careful attention to voices that are often tucked out of sight inside larger book chains or corporatized outlets. Radhika emphatically adds that she’s keen on highlighting writers who may not have achieved mainstream success – like making it to bestseller lists or winning awards – but whose work speaks to members of her team.
Managing The Business
One of the heartening outcomes for Timbadia is that in the first year, she made as much money on books as on food. Many people had assumed that the latter would overtake books. Currently, about 80% of revenues stem from books. Approximately 45% of clients are return customers, showing that the brand is creating “stickiness” – a quality that many businesses struggle to achieve. Her business skills won over the jury of the Futurepreneur Grand Challenge 2020 organized by GAME (Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship), where she was awarded the First Prize.
Moreover, Radhika has imbued the space with the kind of liberal instincts that drive bookstore success. Unlike a few other stores in the city, she permits clients to extensively browse through books before choosing to buy them. She trusts that most clients would treat books with respect and pay for accidental coffee spills or food stains. So far, she has found that most readers are very careful with books.
In terms of government support, she notes that countries like France and Germany have put a halt to Amazon discounts, which end up hurting publishers, writers and indie bookstores. In general, in the book business, margins are extremely thin. Despite such pressures, her bookstore is currently profitable. Timbadia agrees that this is encouraging not just for Champaca, but for anyone who wishes to start an old-fangled bookstore in Bangalore.
References