One shop stands out from the clothing stores that clash with the old-style architecture of Abdel-Khalek Tharwat Street in downtown Cairo.
That shop has photos of Faten Hammama, Omar Sharif, Rushdi Abaza and Leila Murad in the window. Stepping into this shop is like going back in time to a much calmer, less noisy time.
You are now in the Reader’s Corner Library, but where are the books?
Chris Michaelian, a man in his sixties, is busy fitting a frame for a painting. His disapproving expression quickly turns into a smile of welcome.
With careful steps, Michaelian left the work table to receive his customers. There are only paintings and pictures of the stars, but of books, not a trace.
Michaelian is of Armenian descent, but Egyptian to the core.
“I inherited this bookshop from my father,” he told The Egyptian Mail.
But where is the bookshop? Michaelian said this place is the oldest selling English books in downtown Cairo: novels, magazines and books about art and travel.
“My father came here in the 1940s and loved art. He sold books about art and supported young artists by buying and displaying their paintings, sculptures or pottery in our store,” he added.
“But until 2010 when our branch in a Cairo hotel closed, we shifted our business because people in downtown Cairo are not much interested in foreign books,” he said.
Not much call for foreign books
“Readers of foreign books have also disappeared from here,” he said. “Many people left Egypt while others moved to the outskirts of the capital where the new cities are. This means no demand for our books.”
Leaving the library in this condition has become useless, Michaelian said.
So, he decided to convert part of it to sell artists’ work.
“We get paintings from many artists and students of the Faculty of Fine Arts.
“We also do canvas frames, photo frames and custom framing. We get a lot of customers who want frames for their photos and portraits.”
With the passage of time, paintings and pictures took the place of books and a great part of the library turned into a shop selling paintings. All of the books that are now in the library are about Egypt and its history.
“We love Egypt a lot. That is why we have all of the books about Egypt,” he said. Michaelian preferred to leave the bookshop sign with its old name because it expresses a history that he does not want to lose.
“I was not a great reader,” Michaelian said frankly, but he knew something about the books he sold.
“To be honest, the business of selling pictures of artists is more profitable than books,” he added.
“People, especially youth, now tend to read books online or get any information from the Internet. Only older people still have a thing for buying books.”
Pandemic took toll on business
Like all other businesses his shop has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Our sales dropped by about 40 percent,” he said.
“We went for weeks not working or selling anything. It was a disaster. But things now are gradually recovering,” he added. “Despite this, many people who love the place never stopped to visit it.
“Many people come here to just sit and chat with us. They just relax and then leave — back to the hustle and bustle of downtown Cairo,” Michaelian said.
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