Jashanmalbooks.com Concept Store Opens in Al Ghurair City

What's so new about it?

First, the name: we're calling it Jashanmalbooks.com to make the link with our website explicit and by extension acknowledging that bookstores need to become part of the 21st Century.

Second, the size: Just over 100 square metres - we believe that large bookstores are no longer sustainable so we're trying out this new store size and format.

The look and feel is also a departure from traditional bookstores: High impact graphics, a fresh store environment and uncluttered presentation with an emphasis on displaying books front facing so that the whole cover is visible - graphic designers put a lot of work into these covers so we think that you should, in fact, judge a book by its cover.

Naturally this means we've got room for less books so the merchandising focus is on having a wide range of categories featuring just the latest and greatest titles. For older and more specialized titles you can always visit ouronline store where we've got over 5,000 titles listed.

Our core philosophy is that bookstores are places where people go to discover cultural entertainment so we've expanded our product range beyond books and magazines to include a careful selection of DVDs, educational toys from Leapfrog that help parents teach their kids how to read and tablets, ereaders and media players from brands like Sony and Samsung with more cool stuff coming soon.

One innovation we've introduced to making the shopping expereince a more comfortable one is that our sales team is equipped with handheld scanners so that they can ring up the sale on the shopfloor itself while customers continue to browse - imagine you've got a stack of books you're flipping through while seated in one of the super-comfy chairs, instead of having to carry them to the cash till one of our sales associates will come over to you, scan the books you want to buy on the spot and finish up the sale all without you having to leave the comfort of the chair or disrupting your browsing experience.

Lastly, we want visitors to our store to be connected so that they can continue their search for knowledge online. Like all of our stores we've got totally free, high-speed Wi-Fi access - no purchase necessary.

So please check out the store and let us know what you think in the comments below, on our Facebook page or on Twitter or by dropping us an email.

In case you don't know how to get there, here's a map to Al Ghurair City.