Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does a retail sale of books of all kinds business do?
It sells new books across every genre directly to consumers, through a physical bookshop, an online store, or both, alongside newspapers and stationery.
2. Can this activity be run online as well as in a shop?
Yes. The retail sale of books of all kinds can be carried out through a physical bookshop, an online store, or a combination of both.
3. Can a bookshop also sell stationery and newspapers?
Yes. The activity sits in a specialised-store class that also covers the retail sale of newspapers, stationery, and office supplies such as pens, pencils, and paper.
4. Does this activity cover second-hand books?
No. This activity covers new books only. Selling second-hand or antique books is a separate activity.
5. Does a bookshop need approval or AML registration in the UAE?
No. This activity requires no third-party approval and is exempt from AML compliance requirements, so a bookshop is straightforward to set up.
How to Start a Retail Sale of Books of All Kinds Business with Meydan Free Zone
A good bookshop is never just a shop. It is where a parent finds a school reader, a student finds a textbook, and someone on a quiet afternoon finds a novel they did not know they wanted. Retail sale of books of all kinds is that business, the shop, online or physical, that puts books directly into readers' hands.
The UAE has made reading a matter of national policy. It passed the world's first National Reading Law and set a target of 20 books read by every student each year, according to the UAE Government¹. Readers respond: the 2025 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair drew around 400,000 visitors to more than half a million titles and recorded a 65 percent jump in sales over the previous year, according to the Abu Dhabi Media Office².
For a bookshop, that is a market actively encouraged to buy and read.
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Few countries promote reading as deliberately as the UAE, and the result is a consumer market that turns up to buy books in large numbers, in print and across languages.
Sources: UAE Government; Abu Dhabi Media Office (2025).
A bookshop sells books directly to the people who read them. It is a focused, easy-to-picture business: a shop in a mall or on the high street, an online store, or both, stocking titles across every genre, from fiction and textbooks to children's books and reference works. Students, parents, professionals, and casual readers all come to it for the same simple reason, to find and buy the book they need or want.
What makes the UAE a strong place for it is a reading culture the country has deliberately built. The population is young, educated, and multilingual, and it buys books for school, for work, and for pleasure.
National initiatives keep that habit alive: there is a reading law on the books and an annual Month of Reading that puts books front of mind every year. The country's major book fairs draw hundreds of thousands of visitors, a clear sign of how much appetite there is for browsing and buying in person.
Whether a shop trades online, on the high street, or both, it is selling into a market that has been encouraged, school by school and year by year, to read more.
From fiction and children's books to textbooks and reference works, the UAE rewards booksellers who put the right titles in front of a reading public that is actively encouraged to buy.
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Who is this for?
- Bookshop retailers: Retailers selling new books across all genres in specialist stores.
- Online book retailers: Businesses selling new books to consumers through online stores.
- Specialist and children's booksellers: Retailers focusing on categories such as academic, children's, or reference books.
Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate a retail bookshop selling to a reading public encouraged by national policy.
4761.01 - Retail Sale of Books of All Kinds
Under this activity, you are licensed to carry out the retail sale of books of all kinds directly to consumers, through a physical bookshop, an online store, or both.
There are clear boundaries on this activity. It covers new books. The retail sale of second-hand or antique books falls under a separate activity, even though it also involves selling books to the public.
The line is precise. If your business sells new books of all kinds at retail, you are in. If you sell second-hand or antique books, that is a separate activity.
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Third-Party Approval
No third-party approval is required for this business activity.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance
This business activity is exempt from AML compliance requirements.
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Citations
¹ UAE Government. National Literacy Strategy. The Official Portal of the UAE Government.
² Abu Dhabi Media Office. Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2025 Celebrates Knowledge and Bridges Cultures. Abu Dhabi Media Office, 2025.
