bookstore « Robin Writes

Kinda feel like we have a really awful disease and everyone is gathered ‘round to weep and wail, choosing their outfits for the funeral, planning the wake.

I’m not opposed to a wake, mind you, in its proper time.

We’re still here! And it’s business as usual until February 1st. We still have great books, we still have local authors on the shelves – 130+ – and we have events booked for several weeks.

And we’re still hoping for a miracle.

If that doesn’t happen, and no, it doesn’t look good, THEN we’ll start marking down and moving stuff out the door. THEN. Not NOW.

When I said that *I* wouldn’t do a crowd funding campaign, it didn’t mean that I’m not doing everything I can to avoid closing up shop. I simply think these things have been done in STL, re bookstores at least, a whole heck of a lot in the past six months. Three of them come to mind, in fact.

So, as I said, business as usual until – or if? – the end actually does arrive. Local authors, you are certainly free to pick up your books at any time, as you always have been able to do, but I hope you’ll give us a bit more of a chance. Sold two of your books yesterday, actually. That’s a lot of books that can travel out the door before February 1st!

Just like Main Street Books in St. Charles, AOTSP will begin closing out at the end of January; unlike MSB, it’s not because we’re retiring. Darn the luck.

Only a miracle can make a difference at this point. Sales were way down in December, half what we expected, and things are . . . tight, to say the least. So we have to make a decision:

If we could “find” $10K, we could stay open until our lease is up September 30 and maybe business will pick up.

If we could “find” $20K, we could extend our hours and stay in business through the next holiday season and again, hope for the best.

Or, someone could make an offer to buy – $30K.

On the other hand, the economy is still pretty much in the tank, Amazon can afford loss leaders in the form of books and we can’t, and we’re already stretched pretty thin with Dennis back at work and all of my other projects. I need to focus on what’s important and productive, and the bookstore just isn’t it.

We won’t be doing any campaigns like Indiegogo – they’ve been done to death in these parts and I’ve never had much response on those anyway. I doubt seriously that any investors, angel or otherwise, would consider a bookstore a smart move – it just isn’t.

Negative much? No. Realistic. I think.

It’s been fun, it’s been educational, but it’s probably time to stop the bleeding.

You’ll be the first to hear if anything changes, and of course, I’ll keep you apprised of all the details, such as author consignment, store credits, and so forth.