GURUGRAM: Not every Gurugram weekend has to involve a queue, a ticket counter or loud music. For readers who want a slower afternoon, two independent spaces a short drive apart publish enough on their websites to plan a visit: the Chapter 101 bookstore in South Point Mall, Sector 53, and Gallery One, a contemporary art gallery in DLF Phase IV. This guide sets out what each says about itself, as read on 6 October 2026.
Chapter 101 gives its address as 101 D, First Floor, South Point Mall, Golf Course Road, Sector 53. Its hours are Wednesday to Monday, 11 am to 7 pm, and it is closed on Tuesdays. That weekly closing day is the main thing to remember; a Tuesday plan will find the shutters down. The phone number listed is 0124 2575684 and the email chapter@chapter101.in.
The about page describes the shop as the idea of Raju Singh, meant to feel like a private den or an extension of a reader's home, a place to browse without the noise of social media. It says the interiors take after the colonial library style and that every book on the shelves is hand-picked for readers who look beyond the mainstream. The store says it opened in 2017.
What sets the shop apart from a chain bookstore is its rare and used section. The about page spends some time explaining what makes a book rare: importance, desirability and scarcity, shaped by printing history, the number of copies, paper and binding quality, controversy and genre. The home page also has a book search and a request option for titles not on the shelf.
The online catalogue gives a sense of the range and the prices. On the day we read it, the old and rare section listed a signed copy of The Fermata at Rs 3,200, and signed copies of Art Buchwald's Leaving Home at Rs 2,400 and John Grisham's Camino Island at Rs 3,600, along with The Secret Life of Salvador Dali at Rs 4,000. Among the higher-priced listings was a four-volume Don Quixote at Rs 70,000. These prices are as of 6 October 2026, about 9:20 am IST.
Gallery One in DLF Phase IV
The store also runs a reading blog called Chapters, with recent posts dated July and August 2026, and a small collection of books on Gandhi listed on its home page. None of the pages we read mention a cafe or seating area, so plan to browse rather than settle in with a coffee.
A short drive away, Gallery One is at 4105, DLF City Phase IV, Gurgaon 122009. The gallery lists its hours as Tuesday to Sunday, 11 am to 6:30 pm, and it is closed on Mondays. So the two spaces have different closing days: Tuesday for the bookshop, Monday for the gallery. A Wednesday to Sunday visit works for both.
The gallery's about page tells its story from 1999, when, it says, Gurgaon was going through an urban boom that drew new residents, returning Indians and expatriates. It began as a bespoke framing studio and grew into a gallery showing young artists and prints, later adding works by senior artists. It says it began workshops and residencies in 2017 and held its first ceramics exhibition in 2019.
Today the home page speaks of a roster of 119 contemporary Indian artists, with painting, sculpture and works on paper, and a newer range of antiquities and collectibles such as oleographs, prints and old bronzes. The founder and curator is Neeraj Ajmani, who, the site says, worked as curator and project manager on the Benetton Foundation's Imago Mundi project and co-authored four books on artists from South and Southeast Asia. The new arrivals section on the home page showed works by Badri Narayan, Laxma Goud, Ramesh Gorjala, Siddharth Shingade and Thota Vaikuntham, with buyers asked to enquire on WhatsApp; only one work, a large acrylic by Pulakesh Mandal, carried a printed price, of Rs 4,80,000.
The exhibitions page lists 15 shows since 1999. The most recent dated show on it is Anthology, a group exhibition of paintings and sculpture in January 2020 that names Akbar Padamsee, M F Husain, Ram Kumar and S H Raza among the artists. Since no newer show is listed, visitors should treat a trip as a look at the gallery's own collection rather than a timed exhibition, and call ahead.
Beyond sales, the services page lists art advisory, restoration of paintings on paper and canvas, appraisals for insurance or transport, and bespoke framing with acid-free mounts and museum-quality glass. Dalimss News is describing these services as listed and is not recommending them. The gallery numbers given are +91 99 1000 4900 and +91 124 406 5331, with neeraj@galleryoneindia.com as the email.
For a simple plan on any day from Wednesday to Sunday, the hours suggest starting at the gallery and ending at the bookshop. Both open at 11 am, but the gallery closes at 6:30 pm and Chapter 101 stays open until 7 pm, so the extra half hour falls on the bookshop side.
Readers who want more photography and art in the same part of the city can use our Museo Camera first-visit guide, since the photography museum is also in DLF Phase IV. Its upcoming talks and music evenings are listed in our Museo Camera events guide for 17 to 24 October.
As always, hours and listings can change. Dalimss News has not visited either space for this guide; everything above comes from their own websites.
Dalimss News did not receive payment or any other consideration for this article. It is independent editorial coverage.
