A day after flooding, readers come out in support of Bengaluru's Bookworm bookstore

Various social media users have asked for ways they can show up to contribute, through donations or book drives.

As rain and hailstorm lashed Bengaluru on Wednesday, the city's beloved independent bookstore The Bookworm was highly affected by flooding.

The iconic bookstore on Church Street saw as many as 4,000 to 5,000 books, worth over lakhs, being damaged.

Proprietor of the store Krishna Gowda told DH that some of the damaged titles include copies of the iconic Asterix and Obelix series, Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, Roopa Pai's Cubbon Park: The Green Heart of Bengaluru, and the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series by Rick Riordan.

As the store released an update on its social media handles regarding the loss, readers' community, netizens and loyal visitors immediately offered help. Various social media users asked for ways they can show up to contribute, through donations or book drives.

On their Instagram post, a user commented, "Now is the time for the reading community to show up for our beloved @thebookworm_blr," as others echoed the sentiment.

Some comments under the post suggested the idea of a "wet book fair", an initiative of readers selling or donating books to cover the losses of editions that were damaged by flooding.

In favour of the suggestion, a user wrote, "Reading community - all of you who are commenting, if you buy one of the soiled books and bring another friend to buy another, not only they will recover from their loss, everyone who buys and reads them will also turn a little wiser. Books help, a bit of soiled books will also help. Please help this bookstore! #cometogether."

The Bookworm is considered an integral part of Bengaluru's reading community, hosting read-alongs and events to keep the spirit of physical books alive. On April 23, they celebrated World Books Day by giving away a free surprise book gift.

On their X handle, users urged people to purchase from them when the store is ready to sell books again.

"Today’s storm got the city’s beloved @bookworm_Kris bad with over 5000 books bearing the brunt. Running a bookstore in 2026 is brave, selfless and everything in between. So, when Bookworm is ready to sell again, GO and buy a book, or two. Keep good things alive. We need to," a post read.

Another user wrote, "Bengaluru, please buy your books from @bookworm_Kris on Church Street, please! Let's switch from Amazon, Flipkart etc. and support our local book shop".

A day after the rains, Krishna said, "We are overwhelmed by the support from the community, and are considering to conduct a book fair for the damaged books."

To a question regarding plans to handle the situation, he said, "It (the rain) was unexpected. People from the book industry are also helping me today. Hope it won’t be a problem in future."

In a post on X, the bookstore thanked patrons for their well wishes, as they were attempting to revive the books that have been damaged.

"We wish to take this opportunity to thank all our esteemed patrons & well wishers for your concern about Bookworm. The words of support and offers to help has been truly overwhelming for us and we are grateful for your continued support," the post read.

"We are working to bring the store back to normal but you can visit at any time for your book needs or kindly call and msg us on 9845076757. Once again, all of us at Bookworm Thanks You for your keeping us in your thoughts," the post said.