New Delhi: At any given time of day, the cobbled street outside shop no. 15/A in Khan Market has a steady stream of youngsters, giggling and clicking pictures. Seasons do not matter — the mercury doesn’t deter them. Often armed with a single sunflower, or a full bouquet, they pose against the rear entrance of Faqir Chand Books. It has become Delhi’s most fashionable selfie point.
A quick Instagram search throws many such images, carefully curated by creators and casual users alike.
“One of my friends told me that a photo clicked outside the shop earns them brownie points on dating apps,” said Abhinav Bamhi, the fourth-generation proprietor of the family-run shop in Khan Market.
With the holiday season underway, Faqir Chand Books has set up a Christmas tree and pots of red anthurium now frame the shop’s famous entrance. Winter sees an uptick in visitors, drawn by the cooler weather for coffee dates nearby and browsing for books to read in the upcoming year.
While this photogenic entrance gets the attention of book bubs, it’s the interior of Faqir Chand’s neighbour in the next lane, Bahrisons Booksellers, that keeps readers coming back. Inside the cool, organised space, silence reigns as visitors browse through classics, new releases, and bestsellers. Some land on a friend’s recommendation about its collection; others, weighed down with shopping bags, pop in to window shop or find fodder for their next intellectual conversation. Others are self-confessed bookworms.
Khan Market, long synonymous with fine dining and Delhi’s social elite, once had eight bookstores. Now, only two remain. Both these family-run businesses have endured by adapting, evolving, and carving out a space that is uniquely their own, both online and offline. Most so, their social media savvy has helped keep loyal customers returning while also attracting book weebs taking their first steps into the world of book browsing and buying. Faqir Chand’s rear entrance looks made for that perfect Instagram image— an Indian spin on the world of You’ve Got Mail, while Bahrisons invites visitors to lose themselves in its library-like calm, surrounded by tall shelves filled with the latest of all genres.
Both stores are favourites of content creators, with out-of-towners making it a point to visit them on Delhi trips. In fact, it seems almost impossible to call oneself a book lover in the city without visiting these stores and capturing the moment for Insta posterity.
“Somehow, documenting the process of going out to buy a book—taking the metro or a cab, browsing the store, and paying—is something people like to watch,” said Rajni Malhotra, owner of Bahrisons Booksellers in Khan Market and the mind behind its social media strategy.
What these two stores have in common is a blend of nostalgia and a strong social media presence, buoyed by reposts from authors, celebrities, and customers sharing their book-buying experiences.
“Instagram is a great tool to advance business. It’s an extension of bookselling—it’s infused new life into the process,” said Malhotra.
Also Read: Delhi’s Urdu Bazaar is dying. Mughlai sells, not Manto & Mirza Ghalib
That quaint feeling
The Instagram page of Faqir Chand Books is as eclectic as the shop itself. Handled solely by Abhinav Bamhi, it features everything from book recommendations and collaborative posts with book influencers to celebrity visits. It’s all curated with a charming randomness, rather like the shop.
“I usually post about books that I am reading and have liked. I have very emphatically said no to paid posts by publishers or authors to promote recommendations or big book signing events,” Bamhi said. For him, the charm lies in the shop retaining its decades-old identity despite changing times, trends, or even the allure of an ‘upgrade’.
Bamhi’s recent recommendations include Uma Trilok’s Amrita Imroz, Jenny Erpenbeck’s 2024 Booker-winning Kairos, and Manav Kaul’s Katarne. Each post includes a brief write-up about the book, its author, and why he chose it. The post on Trilok’s book garnered over 16.6k likes.
The account also features snapshots of authors posing with their books at the shop, from historian Rana Safvi to comedian Kanan Gill and actor Huma Qureshi. Over time, Bamhi has also built up friendships with regulars as well as new visitors who have arrived after an Instagram-fuelled treasure hunt—stalking the account, Googling directions, and finally striking gold with books and photo ops.
Anushka Prakash, a student at the National Institute of Fashion Technology in Delhi, chanced upon the shop after a similar journey, only to end up being a regular customer and a friend of Abhinav’s.
“I am from Patna, and of course, there are old bookshops there. But there has never been such a craze to visit like this one. It gives the feeling of a space suspended in time, a time capsule of sorts,” she said.
Faqir Chand remains steadfastly unorganised by design and browsers have their work cut out for them with no classifications by alphabet or genre.
“We believe that it’s not you who finds the book, it’s the book that finds you. We like to keep the idea of finding a book as an experience,” Abhinav said. But he is keenly aware of what draws many new patrons in the first place.
The store’s famed rear entrance, all the rage on social media, owes much of its popularity to writer Mayank Austen Soofi’s The Delhiiwalla column and a sketch by artist Aditya Raj in 2021. Many people who came to the bookshop also asked if they could buy a print of the sketch.
This eventually led Bamhi to reach out to Raj for permission to print it as postcards. Raj agreed, and now the postcards are sought-after souvenirs. Some visitors ask for the postcards before they buy a book.
“Sometimes, people buy the book just so they can get a free postcard. It has become a memento of sorts,” said Abhinav.
The famous doorway occasionally causes confusion among first-time visitors who land at the other side of the shop, and Abhinav has to explain that the store has two entrances.
With 72.7k followers on its Instagram account, Faqir Chand Books has outpaced even Bahrisons, which has 43.1k. It’s proof that nostalgic optics and a touch of curated chaos can hold their own in the digital age.
A second home for book lovers
If quaint charm is Faqir Chand’s USP, Bahrisons thrives on efficiency and expertise. The shop is known for its helpful and knowledgeable staff, a fact that it also occasionally highlights on its Instagram page. Patrons across the board, from Reddit threads to Delhi University circles, swear by its up-to-date and well-organised collection.
“I rely mostly on DU’s central library for books. But if I absolutely have to pick a place, I’d say Bahrisons. It has a huge collection, is super organised, and it’s definitely easier finding the book you want,” said Adhya, who uses the Instagram handle @thegeekyfeminist.
She too has a sunflower picture in front of Faqir Chand, but it’s not necessarily her first choice for shopping.
“I get the old-world charm, and honestly, if it helps promote books, it’s great. But the long queues can get annoying,” she added.
For Rajni Malhotra, running Bahrisons’ Instagram account has been an eye-opening experience in social media curation.
“There is no defined social media strategy. But we circle around new releases, authors’ signings, recommendations, and nostalgia, through both patrons and staff testimonials,” she said. The focus is books and stories around them.
The page receives an average of 20 DMs or comments daily, with page visitors enquiring about new titles, the availability of old books, and even recommendations. The top pinned post is a tribute to Bahrisons’ 70-year legacy and the people who built it. Malhotra also follows bestseller lists to keep the inventory updated and ensure customers always find the latest releases.
The page also has testimonials from young book influencers, showing why they love to browse in the shelves of the bookstore.
“The serendipitous moment I met the impressive and super fun Anuj Bahri on my first ever visit to @bahrisons_booksellers! Can’t wait to be back in the store that truly is a love letter to the art of reading,” wrote travel blogger Saloni Miglani in a collaborative post.
In another, author Amitava Kumar posted about how it was “a matter of pride” to see his own books on the shelves of the store, which he’d visited since he was 16.
For some families, a visit to Faqir Chand or Bahrisons is about passing on a love of reading—and their favourite bookstore—to the next generation. Both shops are rooted in legacy and the lasting bonds they’ve created with patrons.
Also Read: Girish Karnad to Sai Paranjpye, why Indian icons have donated to Ashoka University’s archive
Conversation starters, meet cutes
The classic rom-com scene of bumping into a soulmate in a bookstore aisle has a digital twist now. Meet-cutes also start on the Instagram pages of Bahrisons and Faqir Chand, where comments turn into conversations and sometimes even dates.
“Conversations on Instagram mirror those in the store. People often start recommending books while browsing in the store. The same thing happens in comments under posts,” said Rajni Malhotra.
Even love stories have blossomed over a shared love of reading and visits to these stores. Malhotra said a proposal happened at Bahrisons, while Bamhi recalled a first date concluding with both people buying books at Faqir Chand.
A welcome development has been the steady stream of Gen Z readers visiting both shops, whether lured by social media or the love for reading.
“Talking about a new or popular book often becomes about peer acceptance. It is like hanging out at Depaul, sipping your coffee, and asking, ‘Have you read this book?’ It sparks a conversation and relatability if others have read a particular book too,” said Malhotra.
Khan Market once had eight bookstores, including Bahrisons and Faqir Chand. But rising rents and dwindling footfalls compelled several owners to opt out of the book business. Tharia Ram and Sons shut in 2000 and was replaced by a Citibank ATM. The Bookshop followed in 2006, making way for a Swarovski showroom. The last to bow out was Full Circle, which relocated to Greater Kailash 1 N Block Market this year.
While Bahrisons and Faqir Chand have adapted to the habits of Gen Z readers and embraced social media, they know that popularity online isn’t enough to keep a business running. People need to buy books, and social media posts need to direct that business to the shops.
Malhotra doesn’t hold back when it comes to calling out practices that hurt independent bookstores.
“There have been times when authors have come in, taken photos in our physical bookstore, and used it as a backdrop only to share stuff like, ‘available on Amazon’ on their social media handles I call that out,” she said.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)