EASTON, Pa. - Independent bookstores around the world are fearful that temporary shutdowns may result in permanent closures. Before COVID-19, many book shops already operated on slim margins or were competing against goliath’s like Amazon.
Booklovers are banding together to help community bookstores bolster their chances.
For the last few weeks, Easton’sQuadrant Book Mart and Coffee House has kept its doors shut to its regular crowd of readers and writers.
Owner Jo Moranville has been offering customers the option to purchase books or gift certificates online.
“Anytime a business that works on the margins slows down or closes for a while, there’s potential that they may not make it back. A lot of folks have contacted us on Facebook and bought gift certificates, which of course is very helpful to keep us in operation,” said Moranville.
Moranville says the shop’s cafe will also start take out service on Thursday.
To help independent book shops like Quadrant, self-described bibliophile and Instagram influencer Aakanksha Gaur created an app called ‘’Save Your Bookstore.’’
“The app is all about putting money back into your community. You just type in saveyourbookstore.com. You can search for your city and bookstore profiles should come up. If you don’t have the means to buy a book right now, you can also just show support by following them on their social media platforms,” said Gaur.
The ‘’Save Your Bookstore’’ app utilizes crowdsourcing to aggregate a list of indie bookstores from around the world - from the Lehigh Valley, to Guar’s hometown of Mumbai, India.
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