The Bookhive

The bookstore didn't have the book I wanted. They took the trouble to get the book I wanted in a day and offered to deliver it to the hotel where I was staying without extra chargers. I appreciate their effort in accommodating the needs of their customers.

A review written in public interest:

As a Bangalorean, an avid reader and global citizen I was thoroughly aggrieved today.

I hoped to gift my friend a series of books written by a popular author and was scouting churchstreet (Blr) for the best original copy for the best price. As I stood at the billing desk negotiating a reasonable discount, a woman walked in to exchange a book in which the word ‘Haunting was misspelled Hunting’ many times, not on the cover but within the pages. This is not common for a book published by Penguin.

She knew exactly that she had fallen for a pirated copy of the original with the outer cover hardly distinguishable from the original copy and exchanged the book for another copy. The employee ever so casually gave her another copy in the blink of an eye without question in a manner which was almost an admission of guilt.

It was then than I realised that this store sells fake copies stealing under the desk from hardworking authors.
Furthermore, when the second person who seemed to be the store manager heard my bargaining requests began to raise his voice insultingly, walk toward me as if he were about to assault me, hurled vulgar statements in Kannada for about 10 minutes and told me that he didn’t need customers like me.

As a cancer patient my medical bills are skyrocketing as it is and so it was instinctual to merely exercise my right to bargain instead of paying the maximum retail price. I left the store anxiety ridden, fearful, sweating and panicking cursing my stars that I entered bookhive. Little did I know that the queen bee would sting me at the slightest instance.

I wouldn’t wish this experience on my worst enemy. Buyers, please respect the authors and go over to Blossoms or Bookworm literally five meters away from this place to ensure that the authors and their charities benefit from your purchase. I gladly paid a marginally higher price for this 7 book series, bought a couple of extra books and spent ₹5150 on wise business people at Blossoms who treated their customers with respect and dignity.

As a lawyer I could sue this place in an instance but I know better than to do to him what he did to me. That’s what being educated means.

Absolutely shocking to see that they have a manga collection better than Gangaram, atleast vast availability for jjk and One Piece; manga seems to be in a better condition than those of Blossom but for the same price
Definitely worth giving a look especially when you can’t find the Volume you’re looking for

Quite a large book stall on Church Street, no different from the other book shops. The only difference is that Bangalore has (or at least seems to have) a larger number of bookshops than any other Metro.
And it is a pleasure to see even youngsters, both school- and college-going children frequenting these Book shops and discussing the books intelligently.
The staff, such as there were, were good and could quickly identify the books I wanted.

A well organized bookstore with helpful staff when compared to other bookstores in the vicinity. Easy to identify and explore books by their genre and the staff are more than accommodating in helping you find the titles. The collections are much better than bookworm and blossoms.

Probably visited other book stores on Church Street at least half a dozen times but never to Book Hive until recently. And I have to say that I like this store much better than others.

They have a great collection of manga too - eg. SpyxFamily. Hopefully they stock up on more Shoujo manga. All other stores have the mainstream authors like Coleen Hoover, Wilbur Smith, Danielle Steele etc etc which is pretty frustrating if you're a reader who doesn't like partaking in the trend of booktoks or bestsellers. Book Hive is for those who are looking for something else. The newly published books are at the storefront while older ones are spread all throughout the store.

Reasonable prices too, much better than others on the street quoting higher rates for the same book. My only suggestion is that they should stock up on the Romance section.

Beautiful collection of books as far as the eye can see. Absolutely recommend for any avid reader. I wish this store and its owner many years of prosperity.

Amazing book collection. It's definitely 10-20% cheaper than other bookstore in the neighborhood. Keshav was very helpful.

Great variety of second hand books. Definitely pay a visit if you happen to be a bookworm and even if you are not.just might turn into one!

Great place to find secondhand copies/old editions of great books. Prices are not cheap, though.

Been coming to bookhive to purchase books for the past 4-5 months. Never have I ever been disappointed in my experience. The owner is aware of the books he stocks and gives extremely good and apt suggestions if you ask. More than that, the shopfront is stocked with a mixture of bestsellers, newly released books and personally curated books. The best I've seen on churchstreet in my opinion.
The best aspect of the store for me is the personal touch. I've been going on a regular basis to the store to purchase the dune collection, 2/3 times so far he has not had the stock but makes sure that it arrives in time for your next visit or within 30-40 minutes if you're willing to wait. This might inconvenience you, but to me this is the heights to which the owner is willing to go to ensure customer loyalty and satisfaction.
If you love reading books, its worthwhile to check bookhive atleast once.

Great place, nice staff, clean, organized collection of books, but gets a little hot inside during the summer, needs better ventilation

It's an amazing place, a heaven for the book lovers. Not only you find books at economical prices, you also get good guidance from the owner. The owner always suggests books as per your interests and you will never be sorry for buying them. Also the owners have a lot of patience and assist you so well. A must visit place!

One of the best bookstores in Bengaluru where you can get both new and antique books for reasonable price.

Great collection of books that are neatly arranged genre wise. The books are in good condition and the discounts are amazing. The owner is pretty knowledgeable as well. Couldn't help myself and bought a carton of books. Would surely go back soon.

Neatly organised. Handpicked collection. The seller recommends best even if you have no clue about authors. If u are a bookworm, visit it once.

Wide ranges of collection of books, the people have good knowledge where the books really are. I got every book I wanted their service is good with reasonable prices

Nice store the owner is very helpfull he know all the titles he has in store suggested good books really liked. The way he attain the customer is nice.keep up going will come again soon

Even if their collection is small the owner is more than happy to get new books for you with a discount. Loved it.

They have a well organized collection of old and new books. However they have increased the price of Sydney Sheldon books by 20-30rs.
For a regular reader, the pocket pinch is inescapable.

Going forward, I have decided to visit other book stores located around church Street, compare prices and then buy.