Lock the box - of course, a big deal for book lovers

The event will not be held in a cafe or boutique as most such events are but in a massive warehouse that can house over one lakh books. People can also bring in their own books to sell.

The aim? Participants will be given boxes to fill up with as many books possible which, in turn, will reduce the overall cost of each book that is in the box.

In a country that values quality over quantity most of the time, the project is aimed at getting more casual readers into the hobby, in a budget-friendly manner.

The idea came up a few months when four youngsters, co-founders of ‘bookchor.com’ — Vidyut Sharma, Bhavesh Sharma, Prateek Maheshwari and Alok Sharma — stumbled upon a way to make their online venture go offline.

“All the books are second-hand, and we have an inventory of over four lakh books. After events in four other cities, Chennai will be the fifth to host Lock the Box and we think it’s a great way for more residents in the city to embrace reading,” said one of the co-founders, Alok.

“People can also bring us books they want to sell, and they will be given loyalty points which can be used to purchase other books on our app,” he added.

There are three sizes of boxes depending on the package people choose. The Odysseus box can fit 8-10 books, the Perseus box can hold between 15 and 17 books, and the largest, the Hercules box (not easy to carry) will hold 30 books. Hence, the stronger the customers, the better the advantage.

With the cost roughly working out to under Rs 100 a book, Alok said that they have pretty much every type of genre available. “From sci-fi to crime to romance to mystery, there are novels of all kinds. It will be a three-day event next month, and we are really looking forward to it,” he added.