Bookstore gets perilously close to final chapter
Bookstore gets perilously close to final chapter
By Patrick T. Reardon
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published April 18, 2007
For nearly two decades, Women and Children First has brought great writers and powerful personalities to the Andersonville neighborhood on Chicago's Far North Side -- Margaret Atwood, Hillary Clinton, Maya Angelou, Lily Tomlin, Sara Paretsky, Amy Tan, Gloria Steinem.
It's been a community fixture where kids have crowded together at Story Hour to listen to co-owner Linda Bubon read from the latest Caldicott Award winner, and where friends have bumped into each other in front of the wall of novels by female writers. Although emphasizing feminist and children's literature, it's been the bookstore for all of Andersonville. About 40 percent of its customers are men.
Yet, like independent bookstores across the nation, the finances of Women and Children First are so fragile that Bubon and co-owner Ann Christophersen have begun to consider that, someday soon -- maybe as soon as summer 2008 -- they may have to close or move their business.
"This neighborhood has been pioneering in the notion of buying local first," Bubon says. "But maybe we should be in a smaller space or a cheaper neighborhood."
Or out of business entirely.
Last week, the two women, who founded the store in 1979 in Lincoln Park, thought long and hard before deciding to renew their lease for the three storefronts at 5233 N. Clark St. But, buffeted by competition from the Internet and huge chain stores, they only did so after their landlord said he wouldn't raise their rent -- and they only committed to a single year.
"We both really want the store to keep going," Bubon says. "But we really need to get the point across to people : Y ou can't take us for granted. You can't enjoy browsing in here, and buy your books on the Internet. You can't bring your children to Story Hour, and buy your books at Borders."
Since Women and Children First moved to the Clark Street location in 1990, about three of every four independent bookstores in the U.S. have gone out of business, she notes.
The store's move into the neighborhood provided "an immeasurably important" boost to the Andersonville business district, says Ellen Shepard, executive director of the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce. "They were the first destination retail location we'd had. A number of businesses opened on their heels."
Since then, she says, the store has evolved into "a huge cultural institution."
As walk-in sales have declined, the store has expanded its services by providing textbooks required for local college courses and by supplying books for sale at academic and other conferences on such topics as adoption, infertility and women's studies. They've also buttressed their bottom line with bulk sales to libraries, schools and corporations.
But losses were so deep that, Bubon says, "we had to take pretty extreme measures." The most extreme was to cut Christophersen's hours and pay by 80 percent. (She has taken a job with a local computer software company.) In addition, they established a non-profit foundation that is able to accept contributions to fund the store's many programs, such as author appearances.
Online book-buying hasn't only hurt independents. Last month, Borders Group Inc. announced that it is looking to sublease four of its eight Chicago stores, including the one at 4718 N. Broadway, which has been a thorn in the side of Women and Children First since it opened three years ago.
"I would love to see that store close," Bubon says. "That might, indeed, help our sales. It hurt our sales when it opened. But I don't look for that to happen soon.
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preardon@tribune.com
By Patrick T. Reardon
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published April 18, 2007
For nearly two decades, Women and Children First has brought great writers and powerful personalities to the Andersonville neighborhood on Chicago's Far North Side -- Margaret Atwood, Hillary Clinton, Maya Angelou, Lily Tomlin, Sara Paretsky, Amy Tan, Gloria Steinem.
It's been a community fixture where kids have crowded together at Story Hour to listen to co-owner Linda Bubon read from the latest Caldicott Award winner, and where friends have bumped into each other in front of the wall of novels by female writers. Although emphasizing feminist and children's literature, it's been the bookstore for all of Andersonville. About 40 percent of its customers are men.
Yet, like independent bookstores across the nation, the finances of Women and Children First are so fragile that Bubon and co-owner Ann Christophersen have begun to consider that, someday soon -- maybe as soon as summer 2008 -- they may have to close or move their business.
"This neighborhood has been pioneering in the notion of buying local first," Bubon says. "But maybe we should be in a smaller space or a cheaper neighborhood."
Or out of business entirely.
Last week, the two women, who founded the store in 1979 in Lincoln Park, thought long and hard before deciding to renew their lease for the three storefronts at 5233 N. Clark St. But, buffeted by competition from the Internet and huge chain stores, they only did so after their landlord said he wouldn't raise their rent -- and they only committed to a single year.
"We both really want the store to keep going," Bubon says. "But we really need to get the point across to people : Y ou can't take us for granted. You can't enjoy browsing in here, and buy your books on the Internet. You can't bring your children to Story Hour, and buy your books at Borders."
Since Women and Children First moved to the Clark Street location in 1990, about three of every four independent bookstores in the U.S. have gone out of business, she notes.
The store's move into the neighborhood provided "an immeasurably important" boost to the Andersonville business district, says Ellen Shepard, executive director of the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce. "They were the first destination retail location we'd had. A number of businesses opened on their heels."
Since then, she says, the store has evolved into "a huge cultural institution."
As walk-in sales have declined, the store has expanded its services by providing textbooks required for local college courses and by supplying books for sale at academic and other conferences on such topics as adoption, infertility and women's studies. They've also buttressed their bottom line with bulk sales to libraries, schools and corporations.
But losses were so deep that, Bubon says, "we had to take pretty extreme measures." The most extreme was to cut Christophersen's hours and pay by 80 percent. (She has taken a job with a local computer software company.) In addition, they established a non-profit foundation that is able to accept contributions to fund the store's many programs, such as author appearances.
Online book-buying hasn't only hurt independents. Last month, Borders Group Inc. announced that it is looking to sublease four of its eight Chicago stores, including the one at 4718 N. Broadway, which has been a thorn in the side of Women and Children First since it opened three years ago.
"I would love to see that store close," Bubon says. "That might, indeed, help our sales. It hurt our sales when it opened. But I don't look for that to happen soon.
----------
preardon@tribune.com
posted by Carlos T Mock at 8:04 AM
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