Bangalore’s bestseller

It’s a Bangalore landmark, which old timers and recent enthusiasts fondly talk about. Variety Book House, on the corner of St Marks Road and Church Street is now almost an institution, after 42 years of existence for magazine lovers in the city. The store, which moved from its next door humble abode to a sprawling and swanky space three months back, sees readers from all walks of life in the city — from the rich and famous to the modest and unassuming, who frequent the quaint shop for their reading matter. We caught up with brothers, Noor Hussain Sait and Yahya Sait, to flip the pages of their success story.

The journey began…
“On a day, when dad and mom were taking a walk through this part of town and suddenly spotted a corner, which they thought would work great as a newspaper and magazine store. Dad worked night shifts in HAL and would take charge of the shop in the morning. We brothers joined him as time went by and we grew up,” offers Yahya.

We sell…
“Every magazine that can be sold on shelf,” laugh the Sait brothers. Though they have often been offered the chance to sell glossies, which titillate, they have stayed away. “We are in the business for the love of reading and our readers. We don’t need tricks,” they say. From the latest Indian magazines to international reads, you will find almost all stacked on the shelves of Variety. “A lot of stores sell only the main and popular magazines. But we get everything. Often people say that if they don’t find a particular magazine in any of the city stores, they head to Variety and find it here,” say Noor and Yahya. As an afterthought, Yahya asks, “Did you know India has 32,000 magazines and 22,000 newspapers?”

The Internet versus reading…
“Doesn’t bother us at all, because not everyone in India can afford a computer or internet still. Their way to information is still good old reading and that’s what has kept us going for the last couple of years,” says Yahya. The brothers own two other stores, one of which called Magazines, is probably the largest in the country.

They soon plan to expand to Koramangala too. But even in-house competition doesn’t faze them.

“Today customer is the king. You cannot expect him to come to your shop. The store has to go to them and so we have each of our shops located with easy accessibility for our customers. Each of our magazines, books and newspaper shop runs,” the brothers point out.

Our success mantra…
“Is about never saying no to the customer,” says Noor. The brothers proudly proclaim that they have never every had a dissatisfied consumer. “If a magazine is not available when a customer comes looking for it, we source it from heaven or hell and get it to the reader,” they add. Location is another important aspect, Yahya emphasises. “Your shop needs to be in a place where the people who come in have the money to buy. Books and magazines are luxuries today, with so much free information overload. So you have to choose a spot, with a strong clientele base,” he offers. Great people’s skill is the other ingredient, the Sait brothers say. Yahya, the younger sibling gives the credit of this one to his elder brother Noor, who is much-loved and liked amongst the regulars at the store. “Sometimes people come to buy, just because of his warm smile. And this has even been reported in one of the newspapers,” Yahya enthusiastically adds.

A memorable moment through the years…
“Artist MF Husain walked in one day, bought some newspapers and handed over a Rs500 note and asked me to keep the change,” remembers Yahya, who returned the money saying they felt blessed that the famous artist had visited the store.

Husain then asked for a piece of paper, on which he sketched his trademark horse and returned the gesture of love, the brothers reminisce fondly.