Amir and Sons: A hidden treasure trove of imported magazines

If you stroll along Topkhana Road of Purana Paltan and reach the corner of the lane beside Surma Tower, a modest signboard may catch your eye: Amir and Sons. The shop itself is unassuming, its narrow frontage giving no hint of the treasures within. A casual passerby would hardly suspect the literary world waiting inside. 

Yet the moment you step through the door, the atmosphere changes. Satisfied customers emerge, carrying bags that seem filled with books—their faces alight with broad, contented smiles. As they leave and you wander further into the shop, it feels as though you have entered a secret realm of stories, poems, and essays.

This is, however, no ordinary bookstore. While a few books are visible on the shelves, the real charm lies in the endless rows of magazines. 

From homegrown titles like Unmad, Ananya, and Rahashya Patrika to Notun Diganta and Uttaradhikar, and from Kolkata's Desh, Anandamela, Sananda and Boi-er Desh to world-renowned publications such as The Economist, Time, Reader's Digest, and National Geographic—everything finds a place here.

The aroma of these magazines is equally captivating. Spend any time in the shop, and a soft, sweet fragrance seems to linger in the air, quietly mesmerising every visitor.

You may have seen these imported magazines delivered to your doorstep by hawkers, or sold at newspaper stalls, air-conditioned bookstores, or even railway station bookstalls. Yet most people don't know that their true source is this modest shop—or the warehouse tucked quietly behind it.

Amir and Sons is the sole authorised distributor of such publications in Bangladesh. While a few shops or online outlets nowadays may import a limited number of foreign magazines, and pirated copies are available here and there, Amir and Sons remains the only trusted provider of original magazines on a large scale throughout the country.

"Tell me, where don't these magazines from our shop go?", asked Arif Hossain, one of the current owners, proudly. "From ministers and secretaries to judges and barristers—you'll find these Bangla and English magazines neatly displayed in their homes. One way or another, it's from here that the magazines reach their doors."

Photo: Jannatul Naym Pieal

Arif is the eldest son of the shop's founder, Amir Hossain. He now runs the shop along with his younger brothers, Sharif and Razib, while their 65-year-old father still visits sometimes, provided his deteriorating health permits.

It was 45 years ago, back in 1980, when Amir Hossain laid the foundation of this family business of books and magazines. He was just 20 at the time, having left his home district of Munshiganj barely a year earlier in search of fortune in Dhaka.

"Tell me, where don't these magazines from our shop go? From ministers and secretaries to judges and barristers—you'll find these Bangla and English magazines neatly displayed in their homes. One way or another, it's from here that the magazines reach their doors."

Initially, he ran a tire business on Elephant Road. Then someone suggested he try the magazine trade. There was a thriving readership at the time, especially among the educated class, with a growing demand for foreign magazines—though finding them in Bangladesh was nearly impossible.

"After some inquiries, my father realised the gap in the market. He also saw that importing magazines from abroad and distributing them nationwide would be entirely new here, an opportunity waiting to be seized," Arif Hossain shared. 

With a purely business-minded approach, Amir Hossain opened his first magazine shop in front of Baitul Mukarram, later moving it to its current location. 

In 1999, Arif joined the business at the age of 16, followed by his two younger brothers, and thus the legacy of Amir and Sons truly took root.

Despite changing reading habits, these magazines still enjoy a loyal following. "The current generation may hardly read, but among those who still do, magazines remain popular," Arif explained. 

Every fortnight, the Bangla magazines arriving from Kolkata sell around 7,000 to 8,000 copies in total. And among the English magazines arriving from New Delhi, Mumbai as well as Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK, and Australia, The Economist moves roughly a thousand copies per issue, Time about 800, while Reader's Digest sees the highest demand, with at least 3,000 copies per issue.

Notably, the UK version of Reader's Digest ceased publishing last year, but the ones available in Bangladesh are from India and Singapore. Among other English magazines, The New Yorker, Harvard Business Review, Vogue, National Geographic, Sportstar Newsweek and Foreign Affairs also maintain a niche yet loyal readership. 

Altogether, more than a hundred local and international magazines are available, with each issue selling anywhere from 10 to several thousand copies.

Looking back twenty-five years, Arif Hossain added, "At the start of this century, Sananda alone sold nearly 18,000 copies per issue, and other Kolkata magazines were also in strong demand. You can only imagine how much higher the demand was back when my father started in the early 1980s. Even though overall demand is lower now, the Puja special issues still sell well, with about 10,000 copies each year."

Sharif Hossain, the second son, gives an idea of the profits: "For regular Bengali magazines from Kolkata, the profit is usually only Tk2-3 per copy. But for Puja specials, it averages Tk30-40, and for English magazines, around Tk60-70."

Photo: Jannatul Naym Pieal

And what happens to the magazines left unsold? Sharif said, "We sell them to shopkeepers at Nilkhet's Magazine Goli at a very low rate, sometimes even Tk30-40 per piece. Because of space shortage, we cannot keep unsold books in our shop for long."

Yet not everything is smooth sailing. While Kolkata's Puja issues sell briskly, Eid special issues published in Bangladesh struggle. 

"The Puja festival is in early October, but the issues start arriving by late July and gradually gain popularity. Most sell well. In contrast, the Eid special issues are often delayed because of advertisements, and are eventually published at the very end of Ramadan," Sharif added. 

He explained that by then, readers often don't have money left to buy them, and many have left the cities. As a result, very few Eid issues are sold. Since profits from Eid issues alone aren't sufficient, local Eid magazines are now printed in very limited quantities as well. 

Another growing concern is piracy, as described by the youngest brother, Rajib Hossain. "There was once tremendous interest in original magazines, but pirated copies are now circulating from Nilkhet. Many readers, unaware, accept these at slightly lower prices, thinking they are original. This has caused losses for Amir and Sons, the country's sole importer and distributor of authentic magazines."