AMMAN — Before he covered his cream-colored 1974 Mercedes in
books, and before he entertained royalty at his shop, Ghaith Bahdousheh would
put on a different suit every day, shave, and go to his nine to five as a risk
analyst at an insurance company in Amman.
اضافة اعلان
The work “didn’t fit me and my ambitions,” he said. So,
after sifting through a bookshop in downtown Amman one day, Ghaith said he
began to wonder why he had to commute all the way to Amman to buy books. He
decided to open his own shop, and traded in the suit and clean shave for
flip-flops and a beard.
Kawon Bookstore, which started out as a shop on wheels
before settling down in a 150-year-old building in 2019, sits on the edge of
Madaba’s historic district. When it was first launched, it was the first and
only bookstore in town. Now some of the stationary stores have begun to sell
books, and some businesses deliver locally, but Kawon (universe) has found its
niche, not just selling books but operating a café and becoming community
gathering place.
Since the rise of big box stores and later online shopping
and Amazon, independent bookstores have seen their sales dwindle. The situation
for these small urban oases took another bleak turn with COIVD-19. Although
official numbers in Jordan are nonexistent, the
American Booksellers Association said that one independent bookstore closed every week in the US
during the pandemic.
“We have witnessed a drop in sales in general” amid the
pandemic, Ghaith said, which has partly been made up for by more locals coming
through the shop. Sales during some months actually increased and it’s largely
been “give and take”.
In a town with an itinerary that’s traditionally been
dominated by churches and mosaics, the bookshop offers travelers and locals
something different, attracting bibliophiles who used to come straight from the
airport before the pandemic, according to Ghaith. Others sometimes stay for an
art residency.
On a Thursday afternoon, people lounged around the
bookshop’s café and swung on hammocks in the garden, while outside; the shuffle
to stock up on food and supplies before the Friday lockdown was well underway.
Inside, past the orange tree in the courtyard and through
the massive door leading into the former home, light filtered in through the
windows and soaked wooden shelves covered in tomes from floor to ceiling. Books
written in Arabic, English, Spanish, German, French, and Icelandic sat behind
handwritten signs telling readers where they could find text in their native
tongue.
“It just feels like a retreat, it’s a very inspiring place,”
said Nicole Carter, an Australian artist in residence at Kawon. She and her
husband first visited the shop on the way to a hiking trip, but ended falling
in love with the place and eventually moving to Madaba, she said.
“It’s amazingly peaceful, it just felt like a retreat, it’s
a very relaxed space,” she said of the shop, sighing and peering around at the
text covering the walls. “I’ve spent hours just looking at the bookshop and
just being in the garden.”
The shop has garnered a dedicated following since its
opening in 2019, and Ghaith said he plans to continue expanding and eventually
turn the shop into a cultural center, where he can host local artists and
exhibitions. He is also working on establishing a weeks-long art festival in
Madaba. If either of these were to happen, it would give ruin-weary travelers
another reason to visit the sleepy town.
“The concept of revolving (the shop) around the community,”
is what attracts people to the shop,” said Ghaith. “We don’t just sell books;
or food, or coffee.”
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