
Nuria The Honest Store is one of those bookshops that deserves more recognition. I found out about the store earlier this year through the amazing Bookstagram community. Founded in 2015, this was the first online bookshop in Kenya to be established. Over the years, it has gained itself a very large following of loyal customers. As indicated in its name, Nuria values honesty, transparency and integrity in all its dealings and this seems to be one of their strongest selling points and so, it is no surprise that regular book buyers always recommend the store to their fellow bookworms.
One notable thing about Nuria Stock is the support that they show to Kenyan authors. I am not talking about just the well known household names. Nuria caters to young authors as well, most of whom have just published their first books and are looking for bookshops to stock their work. I was in awe with the many names I saw in their catalogues including Joan Thatiah, Joe Khamisi, Silas Nyachwani, Juma Brenda among many others. This belief in local authors makes my heart warm as it gives hope to those with works in progress to keep going. Often times there is a lot of bureaucracy when it comes to having bookshops stock local work and Nuria’s unwavering support made me happy.
Another factor that draws people to Nuria is that this store has such a great diversity in their stocked books. As you may know, I love Fantasy books. In Kenya, it is not common to have these books well stocked but I was more than surprised to see a healthy collection of Fantasy works by well known authors at the Nuria website. More genres stocked include but are not limited to fiction, nonfiction, religion, politics, economics and Africana. What’s even more enticing is the fact that if a specific book that you want in your preferred genre is not in stock, you can make a special order and have it shipped and delivered at no extra cost. Is this amazing or what? I can already see myself placing several orders for some trilogies I have in mind and I am so excited about this.
There is something extra special about Nuria The Honest Store that must be mentioned. As indicated, this is an online bookshop. Nevertheless, they do have a collection center in town located The One Building, Moi Avenue, opposite Tembo Co-op House. Mr Bulle, founder of Nuria The Honest Store, has an amazing initiative linked to his shop. As of February this year, Nuria Store offers free sanitary pads to ladies in need of them in the CBD. As we all know, not everyone is privileged enough to comfortably afford sanitary pads. As a woman myself, I can attest to the fact that it is not uncommon for unexpected mishaps to happen to ladies during their time of the month. The only thing that could make such a situation worse is not having access to the very much needed sanitary towels. Mr Bulle has made sure that his store is well stocked with pads of different brands ( to accommodate preferences), for any lady who needs one and is in distress. I will be talking more about this initiative in a different post, soon to come.
I would highly recommend this bookshop to any book lover. Chances of you finding the book you want are honestly very high. You can make your order online or via WhatsApp using the following number: 0729829697, and once the order is confirmed, the delivery (free of charge if within the CBD) is made within the same day. The best thing about contacting Mr Bulle is the fact that he takes time to discuss books with you. Simply let him know what genre you are interested in and he will give you at least five recommendations with a summary of what each book is about. Don’t we all just love an educated book vendor? You can find out more about Nuria The Honest Store through their official website as well as their Instagram page.