"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island..and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life." -Walt Disney
In India, shopping for books has always been thought of as a book-lover's hobby. The traditional bookstores, with their dreary, dusty and browser-unfriendly atmosphere, have discouraged all but the serious book-buyers.
Crossword, positioned as a lifestyle bookstore, has been able to change this by designing large, spacious, well laid out stores, with bright cheerful interiors that encourage people to stay and browse.
Crossword offers the widest range of books for the young and old alike, along with magazines, CD-ROMs, music, stationery and toys. With its large children's section and its focus on making the store a friendly, safe, fun-filled place, Crossword attracts many families who normally don't think of visiting bookstores.
Services like Dial-a-book, Fax-a-book and Email-a-book enable customers to shop from their homes; and when they come to the store, the unobtrusively helpful staffs assist them in finding the right book, the right CD or the right gift for the right occasion. Facilities like the Crossword Gift Vouchers, the friendly 'Return, Exchange & Refunds' policy, the Cafes within the stores and the unique store experience make it easy and enjoyable for customers to shop at Crossword.
Over 1,00,000 loyal customers are rewarded through the Crossword Book Rewards Program with points, discounts, promotional offers and more. 'eWords', a monthly e-newsletter with reviews of new books, news about in store events and bestseller lists, is currently mailed to these Members.
Crossword, with forty-four stores, across Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Ghaziabad, Pune, Vadodara, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam as on today is India's fastest growing chain of bookstores. Crossword launched the Crossword Book Award in 1998 to recognise and reward the best of Indian writing. The Award, which has been described as the 'Indian Booker', is given out annually in the categories of English Fiction, Indian Language Fiction Translation and English Non-Fiction.
In 2006, the prize for the best work in English Fiction went to Vikram Chandra for Sacred Games. The prize for the best work in the Indian Language Fiction Translation category was jointly won by the author C. S. Lakshmi (Ambai) and the translator Lakshmi Holmstrom for In a Forest, A Deer and the author M. Mukundan and the translator A. J. Thomas for 'Kesavan's Lamentations'. The prize for the best work in the English Non-Fiction category was won by the author Vikram Seth for Two Lives.
Since its inception in 15th October 1992, Crossword has received wide recognition for its achievements; articles on retailing in India invariably feature Crossword. Crossword was ranked the 6th most admired retailer in India by Businessworld for the year 2006; it was the only book retailer in the top 10.
The Bookseller, UK, has also described it as 'being on the cutting edge of retailing' in India.