This appeared in the Bangalore based Sunday Herald on 2nd Mar, 2008.
"A twist in the tale"
If Manneys has six decades of history surrounding it, the little 200 sq foot Twist N Tales (TNT) bookstore is a mere six years old. However, the cosy, bookshop situated in the leafy suburb of Aundh in Pune with the catchy tag line: ‘your neighbourhood bookstore,’ has leveraged all that modern technology can offer it.
It has two e-groups twistntales@yahoogroups.com and twistntalesreaderspace@yahoogroups.com and one blog: twistntales.blogspot.com to serve its approximately 2,600 customers.
Janaki Visvanath, a former MNC human resources executive and now proprietor of TNT, moderates both the e-groups and keeps in touch with all her customers by sending them regular mails about latest books available at the store. On the other hand, some 350 avid customers of TNT review books regularly and share their reviews with others on the ‘readerspace’ e-group.
But modern technology apart, TNT is a booklovers paradise. Says regular customer Ramgopal Rao, a Pune-based headhunter, “When I am stressed out at work, I run to TNT and spend an hour simply browsing and buying a few books. TNT, unlike the many assembly line bookstores of today, offers the quiet ambience for some intelligent debate and discussion with the staff, who is both young and intelligent.”
After six years of successful innovation and entrepreneurship, a happy Janaki says, “I have no reason to complain. The sales graph is looking up and so are the profits. I have also retained 40 of my oldest customers. I am happy that TNT has become a place where people come, not only to buy books, but to simply have a chat!”
Rahul Chandawarkar
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