After a surge in community support, a Dartmouth bookstore made enough money to stay open for another month and pay down some of their debt.
But Jacob Smith says there is still a lot of work ahead and they plan to make some changes.
“There was a few rules that people kind of turned their nose up about,” said Smith. “You weren’t supposed to have coffee in the store, you were supposed to wear masks and that kind of thing. We’re not really going to stress about that.”
The John W. Doull Bookseller store opened in 1987. It’s the largest used bookstore in Atlantic Canada, with lots of rare and out-of-print finds.
The week of July 21, the store revealed they needed $20,000 to pay for back rent and some bills. With the help of some volunteers, the community and a 40 per cent off sale, they reached their goal.
Smith said they might introduce a little coffee shop in the store, once they get some more things organized. He said they have had different issues for years, and when they moved from the previous location in Halifax, a lot of things got mixed up and lost.
Now they are working to re-catalog every room they can.
“We’re just trying to breathe a little bit of new life into it and see if that’ll work.”
Doull is stepping away from running the store. Smith said he thinks Doull is tired. After a lot of ups and downs over the years, the last straw was the building nearly closing, he said.
Smith said he wants to keep him involved with a salary, perhaps for appraising the price of books or for help cataloging.
“There’s no way we would still be here without the support of the community,” he said.
But they are not in the clear yet. If people could come back at least every now and then and buy a few things, then they would greatly appreciate it.
“I’m pretty confident that I, if I keep the store open, me and Sam, then there’s money to be made, and [it] certainly shouldn’t be walked away from.”
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