India’s largest bookstore chain Crossword has opened its 100th store recently. The new store has come up in the company’s present hometown and headquarters at Pune, Maharashtra. Crossword occupies a prime location at the newly inaugurated Phoenix Mall of the Millenium in the city.
Aakash Gupta, CEO of Crossword Bookstores Ltd. Shared on his Linkedin post, “100 Stores! A big milestone achieved by the passionate team at Crossword!”
“This week we welcomed booklovers to our 100th bookstore at the beautiful Phoenix Mall of the Millennium in Pune!”, he added.
Crossword began its journey in the late 90s and was later acquired by Shoppers Stop, part of the K Raheja Corp. In 2021, the company was acquired by Pune-based Agrawal Publishing House, one of the largest publishing houses in India. The deal was estimated to be worth INR 41.6 Cr (USD 8 mn) back then.
Ever since it began its journey with the current owners, Crossword has rebound itself into a new avtar, endearing former customers as well as drawing thousands of millennials into its precincts. A number of new formats of the book store have come up in the last 2 years.
The company had forayed in to low-investment formats, such as the one at Nexus Whitefield in Bangalore, where it has an open-styled store in the mall’s atrium area on the ground floor.
Recently, the bookstore chain opened its first shop-in shop within Third Wave Coffee, a premium cafe chain based in Bangalore. The new Crossword store is located at Sector 7, Chandigarh. Earlier, small formats of Cafe Coffee Day were located within Crossword and now, it is the reverse!
Coffee and Books are an incredible combination for avid readers and coffee lovers.
