Chowrasta booksellers endure despite slow sales and digital shift
GEORGE TOWN: They open daily, relying on loyal readers instead of footfall traffic at Chowrasta Market in the heart of George Town.
Located at one of the oldest markets here, these time-honoured second-hand booksellers also keep the trade-in tradition alive, swapping storybooks and comics for fresh reads.
Used book trader Jimmy Ooi, 65, spoke of niche book lovers and book collectors who know exactly what they are looking for.
“Many of them have been visiting my shop for years. Some of them are collectors.”
Prices are negotiable, he said.
Ooi said that many people would just browse and buy what catches their eye.
He acknowledged that the shift towards digital reading habits has impacted business over the years.
Ooi, whose father started the shop in the 1990s, took over the trade in 2010.
It deals mainly in children’s comics, encyclopaedia, and old magazines, as well as new ones.
Among his prized collections are magazines dating back to the 1960s and voluminous encyclopaedia sets, some of which he prices at more than RM200 each.
He still continues with the once-popular tradition of book trade-ins, accepting well-loved storybooks and comics in exchange for fresh copies.
“The ones that are popular are usually the comics series. I also set aside specific genres or titles and keep informal records to track preferences, which is rarely found in today’s digital age,” he said.
“Although the returns are far more smaller than in the heydays as fewer volumes are coming back into circulation, I choose to continue this practice because it is a simple but much-loved system among my regulars.
“It is an affordable way to keep reading, especially for students and families.”
Furthermore, he said that this would mean that the shelves are constantly stocked with new material.
“More importantly, this practice fosters a sense of community because I know exactly what my customers like.”
For 60-year-old Nasir Ahmed Abdul Jabar, his stall may not attract many walk-in customers, but it holds a strong appeal among a niche of dedicated book lovers whose records he keeps in detail.
“For my regulars, I usually keep them informed about the titles they are interested in. I will even ship it to them.
“This communication between buyer and seller helps my business stay afloat. And I can maintain a close relationship with my regular customers,” said Nasir, who has been in the business for the past 36 years.
He said he still carries out the book trade-ins although returns are much lower now.
“About 20 years ago, customers would come and rent books for a small fee. For example, they would pay RM3 for a book of that value and get back RM2 when they returned it to me.
“Today, for a book of the same value, I would return only about RM1 because it is difficult to get customer traffic now,” he said.
As a result, Nasir said most customers now prefer to buy books outright rather than rent them, a shift he also welcomes as it simplifies transactions.
“The term ‘rental’ no longer applies today.
“It is more about ‘buying’ and ‘selling’, and we prefer to just sell because our shops are already piled high with books up to the ceiling,” he said.
Fellow trader Sikkandar S. Mohd Ismail, 62, who has the shelves at his stall packed with accounting and medical reference books, said that demand for the book trade-ins has dropped sharply.
“Sales are sporadic these days.
“School holidays bring in occasional visitors, but on most days, business is slow,” he said.
Chowrasta Market began as an open-air market when it was built in 1890 within a South Indian immigrant settlement in Penang.
Its name, derived from Urdu, means “four crossroads”.
The market was extensively redeveloped in 1961 into a two-storey complex with shop lots, before undergoing another major facelift in 2013 that added a multi-storey car park above the wet market.
The second-hand bookshops relocated to Chowrasta Market in the early 1980s after being moved from their former site outside the old King Edward VII Memorial Hospital building along Macalister Road.
