A 166-year legacy comes to an end for Durban bookstore

FOUNDED in 1856, Adams Booksellers has seen a 166-year legacy – from a Durban stationery shop to a booming bookstore with branches across KwaZulu-Natal. Now, the Dr Pixley Kaseme Street store, in the heart of Durban’s City Centre, is nearing its final chapter as its doors close this month.

Speaking to Berea Mail, Paul Adams, a fifth-generation owner of the store, said Adams has closed five branches over the past three years.

“We are very sad that our family tradition is coming to an end and that our 44 staff face uncertainty. We will all miss our wonderful customers and friends in the book world. There are, however, no members of the family who wish to continue in the business, and we are talking to people who are interested in continuing the business in a new location. It would be a great pity if the people of the city centre were to be left without a good bookshop,” said Adams.

From stationery to student manuals

Adams said the bookstore was founded in 1865 primarily as a stationery shop which imported books, personally printed stationery and other items from London, where the father of the two founders had a stationery business.

“Over the years the business grew and sales people would go to Pietermaritzburg and into the Orange Free State. There were ups and downs. We think Adams printed the first picture postcards of Durban and it thrived in the early 1900’s. After the First World War and into the depression of the thirties Adams and many other businesses suffered. It was only in the 1950’s under the leadership of my father, Dixey Adams and a remarkable bookseller Ernest Rabjohn that books became our main business,” said Adams.

ALSO READ: Adams Bookstore nears final chapter after 150 years

In the years that followed, Adams Booksellers became the leading bookshop in Durban – despite government raids to censors sales.

“International authors visited and spoke at tea parties or lunches to groups of up to two hundred book club members and other readers. Book lovers from much of Natal enjoyed the assistance of a well-informed staff which had read most of the current books. We had our problems: the censor visited every week after the mail boat arrived with the new books and took away titles that looked salacious or might be too left wing. Books quoting any communist writers were immediately confiscated and added to the index of banned books,” recalled Adams.

As shopping centers opened in suburban areas outside the city centre, Adams built up its educational book business.

“People came to town for their schoolbooks and there were sometimes queues 30 meters long down West Street (now Dr Pixley Kaseme Street). Schools or teachers gave the parents booklists. We worked into the night fulfilling orders which were delivered to people’s homes,” said Adams.

A decline in sales

Adams booksellers also supplied university libraries with a wide variety of books- although in recent years sales dropped.

“UNISA grew rapidly after the 1970’s and we built good business around the many students, including those receiving state bursaries. With the growth of suburban centres we became more dependent on the centre city population, and when the book bursaries were effectively converted into cash grants in 2017, the sales of the business declined sharply. The closure of the universities due to Covid-19 further affected sales,” said Adams.

ALSO READ: Morningside eatery closes it’s doors after two-year struggle

While the digital age has impacted the world of books, Adams said this did not bear much weight in their decision to close the book store.
“The digital revolution has also certainly affected all bookshops: reading on tablets is a small factor, buying books on the Internet another. The availability of other digital entertainment on screens is yet another. But there is still a good demand for books. Most of our customers prefer to read a book,” he said.

Commenting on the store’s closure, Mohamed Kharwa, president of SA Booksellers Association said, “It is a sad day for our city, country and industry when a business, and specifically a bookstore that is over 150 years, old closes.”

Despite the growing availability of virtual content in the current tech age, Kharwa said South Africa isn’t yet an e-book country and even globally books are preferred.