Meet Doron Locketz, the beloved book man from Bookdealers

When you have a passion, it’s just a matter of time before the universe steers you in the direction of your first love. And that’s what happened to chartered accountant Doron Locketz almost three decades ago.

“When I told my dad that I wanted to leave the financial sector and focus on selling books, he warned me that I would not be able to make a living. But in the end, after reaching success, he apologised to me. Bookdealers came into its own and my career segue, a success,” said Doron.

When customers walk into Bookdealers of Melville the sheer volume of books is both overwhelming and irresistibly attractive. The smell of well-handled paper and print, aromatic and musky. It’s a place where hours can fly by browsing, and where the true pleasure of reading can be discovered, rediscovered and seduce hearts and minds.

Doron’s love for books predates his business: “I have loved books as long as I can remember. The greatest thing was getting a book as a present, and we used to visit the library regularly every week.

“There were always books in the home. It was a real treasure. And that is when I first started to really love books.” Doron still reads around forty books every year.

He said: “A physical book is a wonderful thing. There is nothing quite like holding a book in your hands and feeling it. That can never be matched by reading a book on a digital device.”

Watch: Bookdealer Doron Locketz wax lyrical about books

Doron used to collect books at first and go to charity sales to stock up his library. A friend pointed out his considerable number of duplicates and suggested that he join them at a flea market to sell off the doubles.

“And that is what I did and that is how I started. And the very first morning at the flea market, which was in Edenvale, I recall I spent more money buying chicken pies from the bakery than we took in turnover, but I was hooked.”

Fast forward a few years and what started as a small side hustle selling books at the Yeoville market grew into a tiny store off Rocky street, then into a larger space, ultimately moving to first Bryanston and then Melville, where Bookdealers’ main store still welcomes lovers of secondhand books. There is a second branch, near Melrose Arch, at the BluBird centre.

Bookdealers caters to a wide variety of tastes and offers sought after collectibles. In the Melville collection there is a goat skin covered holy text that dates to the 17th century, a host of classic Africana and a hundred plus year old set of all four Don Quixote books on the shelves amongst a host of current bestsellers, contemporary fiction and a load of delightful children’s books amongst others.

Looking at the shop you would never suspect that Doron’s biggest fear was not getting enough second hand books in to sell when he started the business.

He said it turned out to be quite the opposite: “I get offered books every single day of the week, and I tend to turn many away these days as I’m sitting with two storerooms full of unprocessed boxes of books, I do continue to buy books that I really want, but it’s a complete reversal of what I expected”.

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His online store, Bookdealers.co.za, already features more than 12 000 of these titles

Over the years Doron has seen his fair share of eccentricity and strangeness, too. He remembers one customer who selected her books by asking a pendulum whether she should read it or not.

Another, he smiled, used to buy books dependent on its smell. He laughed and added: “We have also had a wise guy who climbed the bookshelves to the top, to reach a title, and did not make use of the step ladder right there, beside him. He destroyed all the shelves below the top shelf while climbing up. We do not encourage sustaining injury while shopping for an enjoyable read.”

There was also a customer who hid a pencil and eraser In Doron’s Yeoville shop. Every time he browsed, he would erase the pencilled price in the front of the book and award himself a discount, until Doron’s store assistant caught onto the swindle and nailed the naughty.

The Bible remains the most stolen book in his business. In fact, its popularity with shoplifters has forced Doran to keep his Bible collection under the counter, hidden from itchy fingers.

Presently African authors are enjoying a surge in popularity, said Doron, and his Melville store cannot keep up with demand.

Books on art are also popular in the artsy suburb. Interestingly, he noted, is that the BluBird market prefers bestsellers and contemporary fiction instead.

He added: “It’s really challenging to establish a trend in book popularity and thematic popularity, as microcultures differ substantially between neighbourhoods”.