In Selling by the Kilo, This Cebu Bookstore Wants to Flood Country with Affordable Books
Kathleen Claire Alonzo was horrified when she heard about the burning of the books that came with the shipment containers of surplus and secondhand goods from abroad. The books were used to “just fill up the containers” or serve as packing materials to protect items like ceramics.
Atty. Janijay Alonzo and Kath want to make books affordable and easily accessible to all families with children. Atty. Alonzo said they want "flood this country with books, good quality books and hopefully, in the next 20 to 30 years we will see a better Philippines."
The eldest and only daughter in a brood of four children, she dropped out of medical school when she got pregnant. In 2020, she had a newborn during the pandemic lockdown and no job. The Alonzos used to run a shop in Cavite that sold surplus goods from abroad, primarily Japan and the United Kingdom. That was how Kath encountered the books that were used as packing materials.
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She thought the books could still be read. And since she also wanted to earn money, she thought the books could be sold online at a time when many people stuck at home by pandemic restrictions started liveselling various products. Kath was also nostalgic about children’s books like Brambly Hedge and Peter Rabbit and wanted her son to start reading early.
Kath started salvaging books that could still be sold, which was just 20 percent of what she found in the containers.
Atty. Janijay Alonzo and Kath at the main space of Bookchigo's Cebu branch
She started selling on Shopee and Facebook. Her titles were mostly children’s books and collectibles, those published in the 1960s to the 1980s. She was breastfeeding and when her baby slept, that was when she would go over the surplus items and take out books that could still be read.
Some people mocked Kath by saying she sold junk. Others told her there was no future in it because people were now reading on digital platforms like the Kindle. But she didn’t listen to them. She sold the books at P100 per title and slowly built a platform for selling them.
Kath then thought of selling books by the kilo to stand out from the other sellers and stores. Even secondhand books were still out of reach of some families, she said.
To spark interest and encourage sharing, Bookchigo set up several "instagrammable" spots in the store, including this tunnel of books
The fledgling business grew out of the space in the shelf under her stairs into a physical store at their family’s surplus shop. She said the store later started getting more customers than her family’s surplus shop and she had to move out to a bigger space. Kathleen asked her husband to suggest a name for the store with the word book in it. He suggested Bookchigo because “chigo” is Japanese for a young child.
“Bookchigo is primarily a children’s bookstore,” Atty. Janijay B. Alonzo, Kathleen’s father, told Esquire in an interview at their newly opened branch in Cordova in Cebu. “Seventy percent of our books are for children.”
Bookchigo sells books at P200 per kilo for a minimum purchase of 3 kilos
The other books range from novels to nonfiction, from literature classics to modern romance. Bookchigo Cebu is on one side of a large warehouse with shelves of books sold at P200 per kilo with a minimum purchase of six kilos. The Alonzos estimate the books to number between 500,000 to a million. On the other side is a cafe with premium books, including hardbound collectibles, that are sold per piece.
The Alonzos said they made sure the cafe had a good interior design with several “instagrammable” locations to encourage people to share the store online and increase awareness of Bookchigo Cebu. One such location is a presidential table with shelves of hardbound collectibles. Another is a book tunnel on the 2nd floor.
Bookchigo has moved on from sourcing books that serve as packing materials to making specific orders for books from suppliers all over the world. They buy through the family’s importation company run by Kath’s younger brother.
Atty. Alonzo said they want to target children “because the better educated the Filipino children are, the better for the Philippines.”
Kat dreams to see every household with children in the Philippines to have easy access to books.
She said she has a network of resellers that sell Bookchigo books per piece. Many of those who bought books during the opening of the Cebu branch were also resellers from all over Cebu. Atty. Alonzo described them as “mini Bookchigos” that would distribute the titles to far-flung areas and extend the reach of their store.
National Artist Dr. Resil Mojares browses through the shelves at Bookchigo Cebu
Atty. Alonzo said they prioritize hiring locals who live near their stores so that they could spend more time with their families and not get stuck commuting to and from work. He said he hires for attitude and prioritizes students so the company can help them in their studies.
Even Dr. Resil Mojares, a National Artist and known bookshop habitue, has visited the shop in Cebu twice since it opened on June 14.
The first and main branch of Bookchigo is located in Silang, Cavite. It is twice as big as the one in Cebu. The bookstore continues the live-selling that Kath did to start the business.
Kath’s son is now four years old and is addicted to reading, she said. At times, the busy mom would be the one to give up. With a warehouse full of books at his disposal, Kath’s son wants to read 4 to 5 books a night.
“Books that were thrown away by others are a source of knowledge for everyone. My daughter decided to make these pieces of paper useful and offer it to as many children as possible in the most affordable way. That's why she thought of books per kilogram because the more books we sell, the better for this country.” said Atty. Alonzo, an Ilocano who is now based in Cebu for work.
“We flood this country with books, good quality books and hopefully, in the next 20 to 30 years we will see a better Philippines,” he said.
