Walk a Crooked Mile Books in Need of Support

Walk a Crooked Mile Books recently contacted people on its mailing list to ask for support during this economic recession. As such, this blog will feature periodic updates on special events at this wonderful secondhand bookstore in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia.

Please support Walk a Crooked Mile and your local used bookstores!

New Website: http://www.walkacrookedmilebooks.com

The Phrugal Librarian

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From Greg Williams - 11/1/2009

Walk a Crooked Mile Books closing ?

Dear Friends,

Walk a Crooked Mile Books might have to close it doors soon. We have been open for fifteen years. Our knees and backs have aged through those years but we hoped to stay open a few more. But the recent economic situation has led to mounting debts to our landlord Septa and to the IRS for employee withholding taxes. If these are unpaid, we will have to close.

We started the shop with a roomful of books in December of 1994 and accrued a fair amount of debt to open it up and, unfortunately, we still have that debt. I continued to teach for about 10 years to support the shop as it grew. About 5 years ago I left teaching and worked full time in the shop and it continued to grow and was just supporting my partner Cynthia and I over the last few years and we thought we were secure. You, our customers and friends have been very supportive, buying our books, telling your friends about us, and donating boxes and boxes of books. Many of those books have been recycled and sold in the shop. Many of them have gone to individuals in the community through our overflowing free pile. Almost 9,000 books have been shipped to Korea to build a University library there. And many of them have sold in the shop and supported us and our work.

When I opened the shop, I wanted to be a bookseller but I also wanted to be a community builder and I’m proud that Walk a Crooked Mile Books has become a part of the warp and woof of Mount Airy. We started a free concert series nearly ten years ago and have had countless wonderful evenings of music outside the shop. We have sponsored the Umpteenth Mount Airy Yard Sale for umpteenth plus Saturdays. We’ve seen countless young babies grow to toddlers who come to watch the train come in, and then start finding books to read in our $1 kid’s books, and they are now in High School. We’ve served coffee and tea to thousands of you and you have let us into your lives. We are grateful for all of this. We hope you feel that we are an important aspect of the community and that we need a good used bookstore in the area.

If we have to close, we don’t want to do so without letting you know our situation. I think we have till at least January or February to see if we can turn the tide. If not, then I foresee a four month going out of business sale. We certainly will honor all trade credits and commission sales. We don’t need more book donations right now. In fact, we have an embargo on incoming books till at least January 2010. WE DO NEED TO SELL MORE BOOKS AND FIND MORE REGULAR BOOK BUYERS. We’ll raise the price of some of our offerings with the hope that this will help but we really hope to hear from you in the way of an increase in your shopping with us. Perhaps you could also buy Gift Certificates or books as holiday presents as ways of bringing us more customers. Quite a few people have stopped by the shop and asked if they can make donations and we are looking at the possibility of that.

These are tough times and many of you are also hurting and we understand. If it is time to close, we’ll accept that and find other ways to support ourselves and participate in the community.

Thanks

Greg Williams and Cynthia Potter
Walk a Crooked Mile Books

P.S. Visit us at our newly launching website www.walkacrookedmilebooks.com which has been generously built by Rachel Polisher of LIVE ALBUM WEB AND DESIGN. We will have updates there. If you don't find it the first time, give us a few more days and check back. We also will be in touch with follow-ups.