Pros I visited Granth book-store at S.V. Road, in Mumbai. It is not just having a big collection of lovely books, but it also has books you always wished you had read, in your dreams. It also has an online store, from where you get loyalty points for having shopped from there.

Earlier, you could use those loyalty points in the future to buy more books, as the loyalty points may cover either the full cost of the book or it depends on how many points you would have collected. Now, I am unable to find that feature on their newly revamped website.

The book-store’s manager always respects the customers and calls them Madam or Sir with respect - be it on phone, in person or via email. The staff at Granth are very friendly and helpful.

Even today they remember me by my name and my complete details. Granth also delivers goods outside India at a certain price. They also have gift vouchers. Granth also has a hotline number for customer service. It also has a fax number, so you could fax them from anywhere regarding either the cancelation of orders or placing of orders.

The best part is that the book-store offers cash-on-delivery option, so you could order the book(s) and they would come home and you could pay sitting at the convenience of your home itself. The show-room at S.V. Road is big and beautiful. It is indeed a site for sore eyes with the mini-waterfalls and bridge and that’s what makes it so special. You have to visit the store at least once. They have got titles from personal development to management, but they have not got any technical titles. Lovely book-store! Gotta be there at least once. Their website is user-friendly and easy to navigate through.

Cons The limitations of this bookstore are that some books may not be in stock or may not be available, as they might be out of print or they are unable to procure special books. Everyone knows that there are situations which are out of one’s control - like the unavailability of some books or out-of-print books.

This is more so in case of Granth, as they have to order from their stockists. Though their website has been updated, they still need to put more information on it about their collection, the key features of their store and clean all the errors on the website for smooth browsing - even their new website.

The other aspect on which they stand to lose with their new website is that there seems to be no facility for loyalty points, which could help them maintain a good relationship with their customers. The customer service people who were there earlier are not there now, but the new support people do not seem to be that helpful. The new website goes down very often like the old one and today, the store does not have much to offer people.