Moore market – small world of old books

  

A place where a book lovers can hunt valuable books with a low price. Besides the books stores, Moore market is also famous for its aquarium & fish shops, birdcages, antiques and odd electronic items.

Located near the ever busy Center Railway Station, Moore Market originally built to house the hawkers in the Broadway area of Madras. Its foundation stone was laid by Sir George Moore, president of the Madras Corporation in 1898.  Over the years, it gradually took the status of a flea market where one could buy rare and second hand items for a bargain.

If you expect Moore market to be filled with cool and hippy bookstores like Landmarks, Crosswords, Higgins then you will be disappointed. On the contrary, Moore Market is a gloomy mall packed with several small stores, which primarily offers old/new/pirated books with endless list of collections ranging from classics, comics, fictions, non-fictions, (auto)biographies, magazines, school/college text books,etc. There is no fixed price for any of these books. The price purely depends on the buyers bargaining skills. The shopkeepers are helpful. The sellers' knowledge about books pertaining to science, humanities and fiction was impressive which helps the buyers to find their choice amidst the heap of books.

In the history of the market, it was destroyed by a flame in 1985. In the 1940s, the market became a tourist destination for residents of the Madras Presidency. Anybody who visited the city wouldn't leave without visiting the market.

Though the More Market stores lacks the trendy appeal, certainly it has its own charm which keeps it’s murky stores still thronged with book lovers.