Sbusiso Mnguni’s rise from street vendor to Ballito bookstore owner
StreetLit has opened a new store at Lifestyle Ballito.
Sbusiso Mnguni is rewriting his story, rising from hawking second-hand books at a taxi rank to owning a bookshop of his own.
He is the North Coast vendor for the StreetLit programme run by the Durban-based non-profit Denis Hurley Centre.
StreetLit is an entrepreneurship programme which targets people who have experienced homelessness or have been caught on the cusp of becoming homeless.
Participants receive business training to become vendors, who can buy donated books at a nominal fee and are then free to sell them on for their own profit.
StreetLit’s main depository is located in the St John’s Ambulance building in central Durban, but their vendors are now found across the province, spreading both affordable literature and consistent employment.
Sbusiso is one such vendor, and thanks to a partnership with the Lifestyle Centre – who provided both permanent space and shopfittings – he now has a full-time home for his once roaming bookshop.
The bookshop, in the Lifestyle Studios next to The Gallery, opened in June and has been a quiet hit in the literary community.
“It has been a dream come true, I’m still in disbelief,” said Sbusiso.
“To end up in a place like this is better than I could ever have hoped for.”
Originally from Pietermaritzburg, 30-year-old Sbusiso found himself down and out following a series of self-described “bad decisions” in 2020.
“I was jobless, couldn’t afford rent and was staying with friends. The next year I moved to Durban to live with my sister and decided to start with a clean slate,” he said.
“But it was a difficult time to find a job and I spent all day searching and applying for anything I could get.”
A lifelong lover of books, Sbusiso had always harboured a private dream of having his own bookshop, but could not see a path to making that a reality.
“That is when I found StreetLit and how I met Illa [Thompson, StreetLit facilitator], who took me in and walked me through the process.”
“After the training, I started doing weekend gigs where we set up tables at markets and shopping centres. Then I tried to carry books and sell them at taxi ranks, but the demand was low.”
It was tough to start and Sbusiso would sometimes only make R10 or R20 a day, but he was determined to make a living.
“Illa tried to find a permanent location for me but we couldn’t find anything until Lifestyle offered the space, they have been amazing. I thought I would just have a table, but they made it look great and it feels like a real bookshop.”
Sbusiso has tried to find his niche, offering popular titles and low-cost options (as low as R10), but also curating something unique.
He tries to find rare books, classics and collectables, the audience for which might be smaller, but hopefully more consistent.
You can find anything from vintage art books, interesting coffee table staples and first editions to the latest big-name release on his shelves.
StreetLit Ballito is open Monday-Sunday from 9am-5pm. Follow StreetLit Durban on Facebook to find out more.
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