BANGALORE: One of India’s leading chain of premium bookstores, Oxford Bookstore, opened its second retail outlet in the city on Wednesday. The new bookstore is located at the first level of the Cosmos Mall, at Brookefield. CHA BAR, a space that narrates the complete tea story and offers a range of teas from the world over, is a part of the store experience.To celebrate the launch, a series of specially formatted events were held in the presence of a gathering of city’s literati and cultural community. The events commenced at around 4.30 pm with the live performance of contemporary western music by the Wigan Field Music Academy comprising Naresh Siyal, Andrew Be, Johnny, Ramesh and Raghu. The strains of music — blues, rock, country — wafted across the store and the mall creating an enchanting ambience.Subroto Bagchi, vice chairman Mindtree Ltd, along with Padmashri Shashi Deshpande, Sahitya Akademi Award winning author inaugurated the store. While author and IT professional Vikram Sampath launched a new section dedicated to information technology comprising the latest titles and magazines. The highlight of the evening was the innovative and specially curated “Authors Enclave” where a felicitate, meet and greet session was organised with city-based authors and their readers. Joining the earlier mentioned three authors were Shinie Antony, Ammu Joseph, Gita Aravamudan, Usha KR, Jahnavi Barua and others. The authors were introduced and felicitated by Maina Bhagat, Director, Apeejay Oxford Bookstores Pvt Limited. This was followed by the signing of their respective titles by the authors as readers availed of the opportunity to have their copies signed by their favourite authors, an informal interaction and bonhomie among all present over tea and refreshment brought the celebration to an end -- heralding a new beginning at the Oxford Bookstore Cosmos Mall. Speaking on the occasion, Abhishek Kumar, COO, of the bookstore, said, “Bangalore is rated the fourth best IT hub in the world, and we will cater to the reading preferences of young professionals, while offering all our customers the widest range of titles and a consistently courteous and informed service. We believe that reading is a great stress buster and is a habit that must be encouraged in children and youth.”In addition to the popular sections of fiction, literature, travel, cookery, there are well-researched sections dealing with health, yoga, tantra and reiki and a large collection of Indian and international magazines. Other important sections include business, Indian writing in English, reference, vernaculars and a brand new IT section.
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