By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
DailynewsegyptDailynewsegypt
  • Home
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    HDB targets 25% growth in profits, various activities by 2023-end: CEO
    HDB targets 25% growth in profits, various activities by 2023-end: CEO
    June 4, 2023
    Bank ABC Egypt sees 158% profit growth in 1Q 2023, after merging with BLOM Bank
    Bank ABC Egypt sees 158% profit growth in 1Q 2023, after merging with BLOM Bank
    June 4, 2023
    146% growth in net profit of Attijariwafa bank Egypt reaching EGP 434.5m in 1Q 2023
    146% growth in net profit of Attijariwafa bank Egypt reaching EGP 434.5m in 1Q 2023
    June 4, 2023
    Al Ahly Pharos tops brokerage ranking in May
    Al Ahly Pharos tops brokerage ranking in May
    June 4, 2023
    Beltone Leasing signs EGP 500m sale-and-leaseback agreement With Hassan Allam Properties
    Beltone Leasing signs EGP 500m sale-and-leaseback agreement With Hassan Allam Properties
    June 4, 2023
  • Politics
    PoliticsShow More
    Iranian, Saudi FMs meet on bilateral ties
    Iranian, Saudi FMs meet on bilateral ties
    June 4, 2023
    Egypt’s PM inspects service, development projects in Alexandria
    Egypt’s PM inspects service, development projects in Alexandria
    June 4, 2023
    FM Shoukry attends inauguration ceremony of Turkish President
    FM Shoukry attends inauguration ceremony of Turkish President
    June 3, 2023
    1 Egyptian security personnel, 3 Israeli soldiers were killed in border shooting
    1 Egyptian security personnel, 3 Israeli soldiers were killed in border shooting 
    June 3, 2023
    India train crash kills at least 207, injures hundreds 
    India train crash kills at least 207, injures hundreds 
    June 3, 2023
  • Interviews
    InterviewsShow More
    EFG Finance to launch unified platform gathering all its financing services: Alaa Al-Afifi
    EFG Finance to launch unified platform gathering all its financing services: Alaa Al-Afifi
    May 31, 2023
    I changed my artistic path to create ‘state of wonder’: Tarek Lotfi
    I changed my artistic path to create ‘state of wonder’: Tarek Lotfi
    May 25, 2023
    I adore Ramadan drama, ‘Telt Al-Talata’ series achieved great success: Ghada Abdel Razek
    I adore Ramadan drama, ‘Telt Al-Talata’ series achieved great success: Ghada Abdel Razek
    May 8, 2023
    We aim to establish Egypt as nearshore centre for Software AG for MET region: Rami Kichli
    We aim to establish Egypt as nearshore centre for Software AG for MET region: Rami Kichli
    April 29, 2023
    Egypt-Spain relations witness remarkable development in recent years: Spanish ambassador in Cairo
    Egypt-Spain relations witness remarkable development in recent years: Spanish ambassador in Cairo
    April 18, 2023
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
Reading: The survival strategies of Downtown’s bookstores
Share
Notification
Latest News
HDB targets 25% growth in profits, various activities by 2023-end: CEO
HDB targets 25% growth in profits, various activities by 2023-end: CEO
Banking
Bank ABC Egypt sees 158% profit growth in 1Q 2023, after merging with BLOM Bank
Bank ABC Egypt sees 158% profit growth in 1Q 2023, after merging with BLOM Bank
Banking
146% growth in net profit of Attijariwafa bank Egypt reaching EGP 434.5m in 1Q 2023
146% growth in net profit of Attijariwafa bank Egypt reaching EGP 434.5m in 1Q 2023
Banking
Al Ahly Pharos tops brokerage ranking in May
Al Ahly Pharos tops brokerage ranking in May
Business
Beltone Leasing signs EGP 500m sale-and-leaseback agreement With Hassan Allam Properties
Beltone Leasing signs EGP 500m sale-and-leaseback agreement With Hassan Allam Properties
Business
Aa
Aa
DailynewsegyptDailynewsegypt
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
  • Advertise
© 2023 DNE News. All Rights Reserved.
Dailynewsegypt > Blog > Culture > The survival strategies of Downtown’s bookstores
Culture

The survival strategies of Downtown’s bookstores

Daily News Egypt
Last updated: 2015/01/19 at 6:17 PM
By Daily News Egypt 6 Min Read
Share
The bookstores located in Down town Cairo have been serving people with rare books for 65 years. (Photo by Nadine El Guiddawy )
SHARE
The bookstores located in Down town Cairo have been serving people with rare books for 65 years.  (Photo by Nadine El Guiddawy  )
The bookstores located in Down town Cairo have been serving people with rare books for 65 years.
(Photo by Nadine El Guiddawy )

By Nadine El Guiddawy

On a walk from Talaat Harb Square to Ramsis Street, one will see countless bookshops in the midst of the hustle and bustle that is Cairo. Located in the heart of Downtown is “Madbuli Bookshop”. After 65 years in operation, it is still very much in business, and continues serving Egypt’s bibliophiles.

Most of the bookstores in the Downtown area were established before and during the British occupation. “My grandfather, Sobhy Greiss, started this business as a bookshop in 1928, and up until now we still sell English academic books,” said Fady Greiss, the current owner of The Anglo-Egyptian Bookshop.

Others bookshops did not start off the way The Anglo Egyptian Bookshop did. Instead, they found their roots as newspaper stands, and slowly grew their businesses into the bookshops that litter Cairo today.

Before owning his first bookshop, Al-Hagg Madbuli was allowed a special privilege; he “was the only one allowed to go inside buildings in this area and distribute newspapers to British people”. It was only after he got familiarised with the literary world that “he decided to have his own bookshop,” said Abdel Aziz, the manager of Madbuli Bookshop.

Some the early bookshops that opened were unable to compete, and have since gone out of business, but the ones that remained did so because of their shrewd business skills. As Abdel Aziz describes it, the bookshop owners “were very ambitious. They wanted to help education in Egypt, and that is what kept them alive up until the modern day”.

The Anglo0Egyptian Bookshop, Madbuli Bookshop, Al-Shorouk are great examples of shops that helped improve education standards in Egypt by facilitating the sale of written material that would help students in and out of the classroom.

(Photo by Nadine El Guiddawy  )
(Photo by Nadine El Guiddawy )

Readers from around Cairo would come specifically to these bookshops to buy texts they could not find anywhere else. “All the Arabic book collections are available here, we also have Russian and German books translated into Arabic,” said Abdel Aziz. “If you can’t find what you are looking for, we order it. We even import books from Iran because they are cheaper and students need them.”

The availability of exclusive books was not the only reason behind the success of the Downtown bookshops. Once the shops were firmly established, the owners decided to change gears and not just sell books, but seek out talented writers to publish their works. This proved to be a huge success within literary circles in Egypt, and helped gain plenty of exposure for the bookshops, which had turned into publishing houses.

By the 1960s, popular writers in Egypt started to get their works published by the Downtown bookshops. Madbuli was publishing works by some great writers, such as Nizar Qabbani, the celebrated Syrian poet and diplomat, and Anis Mansour, the Egyptian writer and author of “200 Days Around the World”. “Owners knew that it was always a good idea to be friends with popular authors in order to publish books for them and get more exposure,” said Abdel Aziz.

Also, modern Egyptian writers like Alaa Al-Aswani published one of his first novels “Yacoubian Building” at Madbuli. However, he published his second book at Al-Shorouk bookstores for financial reasons.

The owners are trying to figure out better ways to make the shops withstand the test of time. With the advent of the Internet, the shops are losing some ground. However, according to Greiss, the ability to “import Academic books for college students” has given them a slight advantage.

(Photo by Nadine El Guiddawy  )
(Photo by Nadine El Guiddawy )

Adapting to the changing times is also helping business endure. Greiss goes on to say that The Anglo-Egyptian Bookshop chose technology: “We now have eBooks, and you can have a membership in order to read books online, and also have your notes written on them”.

The successful Downtown bookshops have branches around Cairo, in neighbourhoods such as Heliopolis, Zamalek and Nasr City.

Despite the move towards the digital, these old bookshops prove that the residents of Cairo still enjoy escaping the bustle of a city by dipping into a literary sanctuary – a world which captures one’s imagination with words and ideas. One finds comfort in knowing that these storehouses of knowledge, which have been on the scene since the 1900s, continue to flourish in Cairo.

 

You Might Also Like

I changed my artistic path to create ‘state of wonder’: Tarek Lotfi

The story behind Gayer-Anderson Museum in Cairo

I adore Ramadan drama, ‘Telt Al-Talata’ series achieved great success: Ghada Abdel Razek

Mona Zaki leads race in Ramadan TV series

Cleopatra was not black: Egyptian experts slam Netflix for misrepresenting history in new drama-documentary

TAGGED: Al-Shorouk, Books, cairo, Culture, Daily News, Daily News Egypt, DNE, Downtown, publishing
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print
Previous Article Ministry estimate of 20,000 street children in Egypt ‘far from reality’: NGO
Next Article In the memory of Radwa Ashour, her friends mourn their loss
2 Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ad image
Ad image

Stay Connected

Facebook Like
Twitter Follow
Instagram Follow
Youtube Subscribe

Latest News

HDB targets 25% growth in profits, various activities by 2023-end: CEO
HDB targets 25% growth in profits, various activities by 2023-end: CEO
Banking
Bank ABC Egypt sees 158% profit growth in 1Q 2023, after merging with BLOM Bank
Bank ABC Egypt sees 158% profit growth in 1Q 2023, after merging with BLOM Bank
Banking
146% growth in net profit of Attijariwafa bank Egypt reaching EGP 434.5m in 1Q 2023
146% growth in net profit of Attijariwafa bank Egypt reaching EGP 434.5m in 1Q 2023
Banking
Al Ahly Pharos tops brokerage ranking in May
Al Ahly Pharos tops brokerage ranking in May
Business
//
Egypt’s only independent daily newspaper in English. Discuss the country’s latest with the paper’s reporters, editors, and other readers.

Quick Link

  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

© 2023 DNE News. All Rights Reserved.

Join Us!

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss our latest news, podcasts etc..

Zero spam, Unsubscribe at any time.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?