In the final 62-hour time slot of their Indiegogo fundraiser campaign, Food for Thought Books reached their goal of $38,000, allowing the store to finance their 38th year of business after downsizing earlier this month.
The bookstore’s final gain from their 46-day online Indiegogo campaign was $40,573. According to Katherine Bhaduri, an owner of the store, nearly 500 people made donations. Although there were several large contributions, most people gave what they could, she said.
The money that was raised will go mostly toward construction and reducing the size of the store, while some additional funds will help pay off debt from textbook sales. The bookstore also hopes to secure a line of credit with the Cooperative Fund of New England, according to Bhaduri.
“A big part of our goal is also just to make sure we have the store stocked and that we could keep up to date with new materials and make sure that we’re providing the community with the same exciting media that we have been for the last 38 years,” Bhaduri said.
The renovation to downsize the bookstore took place between Dec. 25 to Jan. 15 and helped consolidate unused space by cutting the store’s size in half, with the bookstore no longer selling textbooks.
Food for Thought Books received additional financial support through an increase in store memberships, book donations for their used book department and several checks delivered in person. Other help came in the form of events such as a book reading from local author Susan Stinson and a local band that held a benefit concert.
“It was a little bit surprising to see how much support there was when we asked for it,” Bhaduri said. She added, “People have been supportive through this whole process in many different ways.”
Food for Thought Books will continue to sell the books, notebooks and cards that it has sold in the past and is in the process of planning events for the new year. Additionally, the bookstore plans to expand their used book collection, which will feature relevant and new books at lower prices.
“We are all feeling very confident now, just a month or two ago we were worried that we might close, but we asked the community for help … and people poured out in huge numbers,” Bhaduri said. “We’re hoping to be here for the next 38 years.”
The owners of Food for Thought Books hope the community will remember that they are there, shop there when they can and come out to their events.
“We’re just very thankful [to] the community for all the effort that they’ve put into keeping us here and we look forward to seeing people when we reopen,” Bhaduri said.
Malea Ritz can be reached at [email protected].
