16.04.15
www.thebookseller.com
FEATURE JARIR BOOKSTORE
13
prefer to read general titles from the US and academic titles from the UK. Strictly speaking, all titles have to be submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Information for approval, but Izadeen says Jarir has “an understanding with the ministry that we will pick the right books, so we don’t have to send samples. However, we still have to send them a list of titles every two or three days. Any trouble we might have mainly comes from images on the cover or inside, and religion can be a sensitive issue too. But it doesn’t happen all the time. The problems start when a Saudi complains to the ministry about something. “Paulo Coelho’s latest, Adultery, is banned
by the ministry, and so is his Eleven Minutes, which has adult content, because someone complained to the ministry. But in fact, there are more restrictions in Qatar, where even Danielle Steel was banned.”
‘‘
Jarir has its own Jarir Reader app and plans to have 1,500 titles available for in-app purchase by the end of April
With Riyadh’s population of nearly six million, one million to one and a half million of whom are expats, there are many customers for English books. In fact, the number of educated young Saudis asking for English books at the Riyadh International Book Fair, which ran last month, was noticeable. Izadeen says book sales are increasing in all
sectors: “We’re seeing 10%–15% growth every year. I think the increasing number of stores we have helps, as does our extensive marketing on social media—Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and our own YouTube channel. Our customers for English books are roughly 50% Saudi and 50% expatriate. Many people who buy the Arabic edition want the English one too, to check the English translation.” While discounting is allowed, certain guidelines are provided by the ministry to ensure that the price the customer is paying is fair. On the digital side, Jarir has its own Jarir Reader app and plans to have 1,550 titles available for in-app purchase by the end of April. Like its rival chain Obeikan, Jarir Bookstore is not just a bookshop, it is also a publisher, buying and translating many UK and US bestsellers, among them John Gray’s Men are
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (above) and Girl Online (previous page) are finding an audience in Saudi Arabia, says Rumi Izadeen (left), buyer for one of the country’s biggest book retailers, Jarir Bookstore (top).
from Mars, Women are from Venus, Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret. The chain takes its name from a street which,
appropriately enough, is named after the ancient Arab poet Jarir (and how appropriate too, that its senior buyer should be called Rumi). It started life in 1980 as a tiny newsagent, selling children’s comics that were created by the grandfather of the the retailer’s current owner Mohammed Alagil. Today, Jarir has ambitious expansion plans, according to c.o.o. Nasser Al-Ageel. At the
moment the company has a small number of stores outside of the Kingdom—in Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. But Al-Ageel says: “We are planning to open in Egypt by 2020, with five shops. We have two properties already, but we need more because we have to start a separate company to be supplied from a base in Egypt. There is a lot more room for Jarir to expand. We hope for another five stores in Jeddah in the Kingdom, as well as stores in Oman and Bahrain.” A kind of benign, publishing desert storm,
in fact.
Photography by Roger Tagholm
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24