Liberty Books: 50 years’ of serenity

I hadn’t noticed that I had been standing and reading this beautiful book since an hour. It was only when my phone rang that I realize that I have been reading the book, uninterrupted by anyone, all this time.

 It wasn’t the first time I had landed at this particular bookshop and had gone through the same exercise. This wasn’t your average bookshop, trust me. It’s a sanctuary. A sanctuary for readers.

The peace, the calm, the uninterrupted time spent gazing and browsing through books is an experience that defies the idea that you are standing in just a plain structure of Mortar and brick; instead, to a true book lover it would be no less than a place of worship, where you submit yourself to literary gods.

And this sanctuary went from being a simple Kiosk owned by Mr. Abdul Hussain in 1952 to a chain of bookstores .From working in a bookshop to having a bookstore of his own, Mr. Hussain did not just start Liberty books –he started a reader’s movement with the ideology of “Reading liberates your mind”.

Liberty emerged in 1961, starting its operations at PC and later to diffuse itself at Marriot and Sheraton.

Despite the books industry in Pakistan being in a poor state of affairs, Liberty opened its first books clearance outlet at Boat Basin in 1985, and later introduced itself to more readers by opening an outlet at Park towers in 2000.

From retail to distribution, Liberty Books covers all. With a motivated and well-trained workforce, Liberty Books represents itself as Pakistan’s leading book store internationally. Its popularity amongst the UK and US publishers can be realized from the fact that it has been the exclusive distributor for many popular series such as Harry Potter etc.

But Liberty Books has not been a successful venture only because of the assortments of books it has to offer. Its artillery includes association with renowned authors like Mohammad Hanif, Asif Noorani, H.M.Naqvi and Zahid Hussain.

The Odyssey of Liberty Books yet continues to seduce its dedicated readers by offering them a special discount cushion on its 50^th birthday celebrations. The readers are heartbeat of Liberty Books and half a century long relationship would just not be complete unless they are treated royally! There is a lot more from where those beautiful books are pouring in from for the last 50 years. Stay tuned to the 50 year celebrations at Liberty Books!

Zufah Ansari