Downtown DC bookstore Chapters is making a bold move to keep its doors open. In serious financial difficulty, the small indie bookstore is going nonprofit and appealing to the public for support. 1,600 people willing to contribute $50 each is what it's going to take to keep this vibrant bookstore open. The Washington Post reports the whole story here.
Writer, blogger, and proponent of indie bookstores everywhere, Jeremy Mercer stops by to share his thoughts on Chapters. Mercer's latest book, Time Was Soft There, is a memoir of the Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company.
(This the first essay we're running about Chapters. Please contact us if you'd like to write about your experience at Chapters and its need of our ongoing support.)
In Praise of Chapters, by Jeremy Mercer
One of my great mentors was the writer Christopher Cook Gilmore. He spent a lifetime traveling and writing and by the time we met in Paris in the year 2000, he’d been across six continents and had a handful of books to his name.
Chris knew how to get along - on the road, with people, in life. This was a necessity for a writer who never had much money, so over tiny bottles of Kronenberg beer he taught me what he knew. The first lesson?
“Whenever you arrive in a new town, find the bookstore,” he said. “That’s where you’ll find the good people, that’s where you’ll get the help you need.”
Chris didn’t need to specify an independent bookstore because we were living together at Shakespeare and Company at the time. Not all independents have beds in the back where you can sleep for free like at Shakespeare, but there is almost always a built-in community at the store, an obsessed bookseller or two and at least one person willing to lend a hand to a lost soul.
I have nothing against the online booksellers and big chains; anybody who spreads the written word is doing noble work. I just believe that independent bookstore owners, the more eccentric the better, are on the fast track to sainthood. As a rule, they put in long hours, support local writers and alternative publications, and foster an environment that is closer to a community centre than a retail outlet. Most amazingly, they rarely do it for the money (who makes money as an independent bookseller?) but keep their stores going out of devotion to the books they sell.
Sure, you might pay an extra dollar or three for your book at independents. But in return you are likely to get reading advice, kind words, a human moment. More importantly, you will most be supporting an Outpost of Good. In these overly commercial times where the bottom line seems to be held in as much esteem as the Bible, independent booksellers are hubs of progressive politics, creative endeavors, and community actions. The independent booksellers are like the Ewoks in Star Wars, working together in the hinterlands of capitalism, fighting the forces of darkness.
If you live in or near Washington DC, I urge you to visit Chapters bookstore. This has been an Outpost of Good for 20 years and finds itself on the brink of bankruptcy. Maybe do a bit of holiday shopping, maybe sign up to help the foundation, or maybe just stop in and tell Terri and Steve you support what they’re doing. It would all be helpful.
Not everyone is going to come to their bookstore the way Chris Cook Gilmore came to Shakespeare and Company. He was part of the student uprising in Paris in May 1968 and was being chased by police when he ducked into the bookstore. I’m not promising you that your local independent bookseller will shelter you from riot police, but I am saying you have a much better chance of finding peace and safety there than at your local Barnes & Noble.
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