Through a combination of an Indiegogo campaign, book sales, a lemonade stand and some potential investors, The Book House, in Maplewood has avoided a forced closure.
Debts from its move from Rock Hill in 2013 were overwhelming the store’s operations, even though it was successfully meeting daily expenses, owner Michelle Barron said. She started the online campaign to pay the debts.
Barron told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the response to her plea has been “phenomenal”:
“We are so lucky to have so many customers and booklovers in Maplewood and the entire St. Louis area, we have also received donations from as far as Australia for our online campaign!! We are also talking with three potential ‘partner/ investors’ and have sold quite a few ‘BOOK BONDS’ to raise funds so we are golden. We have also negotiated a payment plan option with Mo. Dept. of Revenue and will probably have all our paperwork for our Merchant’s License renewal this week.”
See also: Lemonade stand raises $1,700 to save Maplewood business
As of Friday afternoon the Indiegogo campaign had raised $8,250 out of the $10,000 goal, and on Tuesday La Cosecha Coffee shared half its profits with the book store.
UPDATE: As of Saturday, June 20 the Indiegogo campaign had raised $10,100, including two donations of $1,000.
Im very happy the store survived. However, Im concerned that the lack of planning ahead financially (for the move in 2013 for example) will dog this business side of book house ongoing–