Editor’s note: March is “love your independent bookstore” month. But, according to Nikki Furrer, proprietor of Pudd’nhead Books, (see our story in the March issue here) that love's not in the air. And it's not entirely the economy. This week, Furrer wrote to us saying that she hears folks verbally support independent bookstores…and then they go buy novels at Books-a-Million, or online. The independent bookstore has long been an important fixture in a city’s cultural landscape, one that can alter literature itself—think of City Lights in San Francisco, or Shakespeare & Co. in Paris. St. Louis needs its cultural beacons and third places, too, but they can't survive on air and gratitude alone. Here is Nikki’s dispatch from the frontlines, as a former literary agent, current indie bookshop owner and big believer in the small and local. And just serendipitously, Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son, is running a “Love Your Indie” contest until March 31. You can win signed copies of his new novel, Gunpowder, by purchasing a book from your local indie and sending him a copy of the receipt. Get all the details here. --Stefene Russell
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I've been back in St. Louis for a year now, and I finally miss New York. I miss eating in New York - pork buns in Chinatown, bagels from Bergen Bagels, coffee from Choice and Tillie's, the coffeeshops from my old neighborhood in Brooklyn. I miss Partners & Crime, a mystery bookstore in the Village. I miss The Strand, arguably the best used bookstore in the world. I miss paying $20 for a standing room only seat at the opera, and I miss the kids that dance and do acrobatic tricks on the subway for spare change. Food, culture, art. These are the things that define a place and give us an opportunity to define ourselves. These are the things that shape our identities as individuals and as cities. Food, culture and art feed our bodies and our souls, they make our lives beautiful, they resonate in our hearts and they give us something to talk about at parties.
St. Louis and New York have something in common - chain stores are taking over the history and individuality of both places. We drive our visitors around the city and point out abandoned buildings and empty lots, "that's where something great and neat used to be." Red tour buses drive people around New York, pointing out where their great and neat used to be, "but now it's an Old Navy. Now it's a Starbucks." None of us want to knock down Crown Candy Kitchen and build a McDonald's, but that's exactly what we do every time we spend our money at a chain store instead of a local business. When we shop online, we're asking for a neighborhood that consists only of houses and an Amazon warehouse, with empty business districts, and nowhere to go, and nothing to do.
Times have gotten tough - the economy is changing and adjusting to a new era. We all cast a vote in November, and we're still casting votes today, every time we open our wallets. All businesses are struggling, and we as consumers decide who lives and who dies. We all think about who we want to spend our lives with, what we want to do for a living, but how often do we think about how we want to live our daily lives? How often do we think about what we want our neighborhoods to feel like, look like - is it more important to me to save $2 today than it is to support creativity, individuality, community support and involvement? Do I want to shop in dingy warehouses, or small shops that are the only one like it in the world? Conspicuous consumption is as out of date and out of style as fake tans and SUV's - quality and creativity are the new trendsetters, the wave of the future. One hand-crafted piece from a local artist is so much more valuable, beautiful and impressive than 10 pieces of plastic from Target.
Spending a dollar at a chain store puts 40 cents into your local economy. Spending a dollar at a locally owned, independent business puts over 60 cents into your local economy. We're lucky here - the foreclosure crisis isn't hitting us as hard as other areas of the country, our unemployment rates are lower than other areas, and that's a direct result of our strong local economy. I love St. Louis, and I love what makes us unique and beautiful and culturally rich. But if we don't spend our money where our hearts are, we're going to be living our lives in a strip mall.
Indie businesses need to pay rent, they need to pay their employees - your neighbors and friends and family. Moral support doesn't get the electric bill paid. We ask you to support us, and we make the same commitment to you. Pudd'nhead Books donates over 5% of its sales to local schools, charities and organizations. A woman called this week from out of town, asking me to hold a couple of books so her mom could come in and pick them up - the books are her mother's birthday presents. Instead, we're gift wrapping them and delivering them to her house to surprise her. I love to do things like this, and its why I opened an independent bookstore. Big box stores will never, ever help your mother have a better birthday. But if our community doesn't come into our shops and buy what they need from us, we can't stay open. It's up to all of us to break the chains, improve our quality of life, and celebrate our uniqueness. --Nikki Furrer
Pudd'nhead Books, 37 South Old Orchard, 314-918-1069.
