By Raymond Rendleman

Remember when St. Johns Booksellers sent out an earnest plea for help just before the holidays, saying they needed to make $6,000 in a couple weeks or shut their doors?

Well, more than a few folks must have gotten the memo, because the independent store reached its goal. That $6,000 was the bookstore's accumulated shortfall over the entire year, according to owner Nena Rawdah.

“A lot of other merchants in St. Johns are all having the same problems because we’re noticing almost zero foot traffic,” Rawdah says. “People are definitely spending less money these days. My most reliable customers are people on fixed incomes, because it seems those incomes are the only ones that haven’t gone down.”

She remembers the record snowstorm of December 2008 as the best sales month of the past few years, but the near-constant cold rain of this winter, even for Oregonians, has apparently not been as conducive to roaming the street for a good book or a bargain of any kind.

Annie Allerdice of the St. Johns Main Street Coalition says the mantra has to be “buy local.”

“St. Johns is experiencing the same thing that’s been going on in every community, and Booksellers is like everyone else trying to make their daily revenue,” Allerdice says. “Our message has been to buy local because St. Johns is a little community in a large city.”

Also as Rawdah’s friend, Allerdice wants to do everything she can to help. She’s buying lots of books through Booksellers, and she’s been encouraging family friends to order schoolbooks through the store. “Spending your dollars in St. Johns versus buying it elsewhere can make a huge difference,” she says.

She’ll also be going to a free Intro to Bookselling workshop at the store on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. All attendees of the workshop will have the opportunity to volunteer three hours a week as an official unpaid intern of the bookstore.

“One of the comments I hear most often is ‘You must have the most awesome job,’ so I’d like to offer folks some real experience,” Rawdah says. “There are resources out there that cost money, but for amateur book nerds who just want more info, this will be a great event.”

Allerdice was impressed that the business association got enough people aware of the problem to make the $6,000. “It’s a community effort,” she says. “It’s all of us together working hand-in-hand to make a difference.”

 photo courtesy of Reading Local