"Shop around the corner"

Seen the movie "You've got mail" starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan where a simple "Shop round the corner" is forced out of business by big time bookstore chain "Fox books"? Here is where the "twist" lies. We don't have any "Fox books" in my neighborhood but a little bookstore does exist! I discovered to my amazement a great little "shop around the corner" tucked away in the interiors of Aundh in Pune amidst an array of apartment complexes!

Aptly captioned "Your neighborhood bookstore" and called "twistntales" I discovered it just a couple of weekends ago. There is a play/sitting area outside the shop along with a rack that sold second-hand books. Light shades of green was the signature color on the outside. Once on the inside the personal attention I received was excellent. They were helpful and answered all my queries. They did offer the most important thing in business apart from quality that keeps bringing the customers back - excellent service!

Being a small store, space was at a premium as is expected. They can't stock everything under the sun and so they had to make a choice and yet offered the best and most popular titles of the day. Every rack was neatly named and classified in a no-nonsense manner. Books of almost every genre adorned the racks. There was something for everyone. The most remarkable about the way books were stacked up for display was the shape of the racks themselves. I don't know who came up with the idea but he/she should be congratulated. The run-of-the-mill book stores all feature the regular shelves where we have a chance to look at the top book in the stack only (with only the top book facing the customer). To look at what's next we have to shuffle through. In my neighborhood bookstore the rows were intelligently arranged in a crossed fashion allowing to the customer to have a look at the title on the side of all the books in the stack.

The store was so nice and people were so warm that I made it a point to take my Mom along last Saturday when she came to visit me. She too was impressed. Afterall who wouldn't? People need "Fox books" (to get better deals) but they need "Shop round the corner"s too (for cherishing a warm relationship)! Let us hope that my neighborhood bookstore stays safe from the "fox". It would stay safe ofcourse! Owing to the loyal customers who would not let the "Fox" anywhere even near!