COVID-19: Kolkata's book hub on College Street wears a deserted look
Jul 17, 2020
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 17 : The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected several businesses including, Kolkata's biggest and busiest book hub on College Street.
Anil Kumar Sen, a bookseller in the area told ANI that business has gone down by more than 80 per cent.
"Now that all universities and schools are closed, classes are being held online and no one is coming out to buy books. As COVID numbers kept rising, demand for our books decreased. People would much rather buy books online from big stores. We open the shop every day and wait for customers but no one comes. It is getting very difficult to manage household expenses and I'm afraid it will get harder in the coming days," Sen said.
Fariyaz Gupta, another bookstore worker, in a more optimistic approach said that he looked forward to the day when the store would be bustling with college and school students.
"We're in the middle of a global pandemic, of course, no one will want to leave their houses. Every day the number of positive COVID patients is rising, it is too big a risk to come out and shop. We're facing a lot of problems but we're getting by. Hopefully, this will blow over soon and we'll be able to get back on our feet," he said.
