Surabaya. One of the most iconic used book markets in Surabaya, whose name is already legendary, is the Blauran Used Book Market. The market located on Jalan Kranggan, Sawahan District, Surabaya, East Java is always a target for people who want to look for books at low prices. The noisy jostling of buyers fighting over books, while the traders were busy selling their wares. As the night went on, the noise became more and more noticeable. The streets between one kiosk and another are always crowded with buyers who come. The corridor is full of emptiness However, now all the noise has disappeared.
The streets that were once crowded are now just empty alleys full of emptiness.
If in the past the kiosks always competed to display thousands of stacks of books, now you can only see tarpaulins covered in thick dust as if they had been abandoned for a long time. The smell of book paper that usually greets every visitor who comes, now only a musty smell remains that envelops the place. One of the surviving traders, Kusni, expressed the sad state of Blauran Market, which has seen increasingly fewer visitors since the Covid-19 pandemic. Kusni recalls the moment when buyers flocked to his shop and fought over books. “It was really crowded back then, people were queuing up and pushing and shoving here,” Kusni recalled to Kompas.com , Monday (29/9/2025). He explained that the drastic decline in visitors was due to the Blauran Market’s inability to recover from the economic downturn following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, online book sales are becoming increasingly popular. “Especially now that online is everywhere, the prices are almost the same here and online. In fact, buyers here can see the condition of the book directly, whether it’s good or not, whether there are any scribbles or damage,” he said. Of the 35 traders who were previously there, now only 7 traders remain. “Most of the traders here have died, and no one wants to continue their business,” he said, pointing to several stalls that only had piles of old tarpaulins left.
Even so, Kusni remains diligent every day opening his kiosk from 11:30 to 19:00 WIB. “Yes, even though now there are only one or two buyers or even no buyers, the important thing is that I am open every day,” said the 64 year old woman. According to him, the amount of sustenance he received that day was a gift from God for which he should be grateful. In fact, thanks to his persistence in trading used books for decades, he was able to send his two children to college. “Well, what else can I do? This is my only job. If I’m going to close it, where will I get the money? I just get by. If I get a little, I’m grateful; if I get a lot, I’m grateful ,” he said. On the same occasion, another trader, Saipul (49), said that the biggest challenge he had to face as a used book seller was following existing book trends.
In particular, textbooks must always be adapted to the current curriculum. “So, now that we’re using the independent learning curriculum, we’re stocking the latest independent learning curriculum textbooks, because otherwise, no one would buy them,” Saipul said. Not only textbooks, Saipul is also enthusiastic about showing off a variety of other book collections, such as the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI), books on medical and architectural theory, novels, autobiographies of famous figures, motivational books, and many more. For the fate of books that are too old and no longer relevant, they are usually collected into one and weighed per kilo to be sold to distributors. “Usually, if the books are no longer selling, their fate will be weighed with the seller (distributor) per kilo, for example, they get Rp. 2,000,” he said.
The man who has been trading since 1997 said the reason he has persisted, even though the condition of Blauran Market is increasingly worrying, is because his used book trade is a business legacy from his parents that he does not want to forget. “I’ve been selling since high school, so after school, I’d always help my parents sell books. My parents have been selling since they moved from Jalan Semarang,” said Saipul.
However, he also does not want to switch to selling in online stores because he thinks the transaction system is too complicated. “In my opinion, selling online has a complicated transaction system, and the online shop still has to hold the payment . It’s better to sell offline like this, where you can see the physical product in person,” he explained.
Saipul also regretted that more and more bookstores were deserted of visitors, or even closed. “It’s a shame to see so many bookstores closing, even though physical books will always be needed,” he said.
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