Seasoned by eight years as a bookseller in South Florida, Al Leonard figured he knew how to handle the annual pummeling from hard winds and rain. But then Hurricane Charley roared through.
"This year, with the windows boarded up and the bottom shelves clear, we thought ourselves prepared—until the roof blew off," said Leonard, owner of All Books in Punta Gorda. Leonard lost not only his roof, but 40% of the stock inside the store. Many of the books that weren't destroyed have been damaged. Insurance will cover about 25% of the loss, and Leonard does expect to rebuild and reopen eventually. But for now, like many of the entrepreneurs in his battered community, he is out of business.
On the island community of Orange Beach, Ala., Page & Palate bookstore has been closed since September 13, when the approach of Hurricane Ivan forced the community to evacuate. The store survived the hurricane with relatively minor damage, but the island is still without power and the store's co-owner Donna Anderson doesn't expect to be able to reopen until at least the end of October. Even then, Anderson told PW, "I don't think there will be anyone around to shop."
Anderson, who estimated the store will lose at least $50,000 in sales because of the closing, is resigned to posting a loss for the year, despite having laid off an employee until the store can reopen. "I have a pile of bills to pay and no money to pay them with," Anderson said. "This store is my husband and my only livelihood. Neither of us has an outside job, so we're holding tight."
Like Anderson and Leonard, independent booksellers throughout the Southeast are reeling from the devastating hurricane season. The hurricanes that slammed into the region in quick succession during the past two months have cost booksellers millions in lost sales and damaged property. The major chains have not escaped unharmed. Books-A-Million—which had to close 35 stores for anywhere from two days to a week and had significant damage to three of its stores—has even warned that it will post a third-quarter loss because of the hurricanes. But the chains, heavily insured and with hundreds of stores spread throughout the country, have a cushion to protect them from the impact. For independents, the hurricanes have turned what in the best of times is a tough business into a fight to survive.
Survivor Mode
With the make or break holiday shopping season just a few weeks away, there are worries that the aftermath of the hurricanes may be worse than the storms themselves. "I think right now the infrastructure is so iffy that people are going to have to recover from that before they even think about Christmas," said Wanda Jewell, executive director of the Southeast Booksellers Association. "I can't imagine they're going to be out shopping for books. It depends on how long they're in this survival mode."
Many of the region's booksellers have faced relatively minor problems—a few days of lost business, water-damaged carpeting, sleepless nights followed by days of gratitude that they were spared the worst of the destruction. But booksellers who took a harder hit have been compelled to lay off workers, postpone paying bills and take out loans to keep the cash flowing long enough to recover.
Random House's Florida sales representative, Eileen Becker, pointed out that the independent booksellers have been hit not just as entrepreneurs but also as residents. "In addition to taking care of their businesses, they're taking care of their families and homes, so a lot of times they've had to deal with two properties." Becker declined to say what, if any, special terms the publisher is extending to booksellers, but she noted, "We're looking at each store individually."
As far north as Richmond, Va., Café Gutenberg is dealing with the effects of Hurricane Gaston, which caused flooding that destroyed most of the books in the store, as well as much of its cafe equipment. After being closed for a month, the store reopened in late September with fewer than half the 25 employees it had before Gaston. General Manager Stephanie Hagan said the store's owners are looking into applying for emergency loans or grants, but that the process is frustrating. "You have to be a strong business owner when something like this happens, because you don't get a lot of outside help," she said. "There's a lot of red tape, forms and hoops to jump through.
The Worst of It
Floridians, of course, have gotten the worst of it. Longtime bookseller Tom Rider, co-owner of Goering's Bookstore in Gainesville, Fla., said the weather's havoc will hurt all of the state's booksellers, regardless of whether they suffered property damage or how long they had to temporarily shut their doors. "One, everyone is distracted by the extent of the destruction. Two, no one has any money. It's a disaster; people have lost so much—including their homes or trailers. They have to find money to replace the essentials, to fix or rebuild their homes," Rider told PW. "They're not going to be coming in to buy books. And we're all going to suffer."
But some are suffering more than others. The Sanibel Island Bookshop has been closed, on and off, for nearly a month, including two weeks after Charley hit the island like it was a bull's eye. Though the store survived without any damage to its structure or its contents, owner Hollie Smith estimated she's lost $20,000 to $30,000 in sales because of having to close the store, or because even when the doors were open the customers were few. "After Charley, everyone was just busy with cleaning up or getting ready for the next one, so it was really, really slow," said Smith, whose store typically has annual sales of about $350,000.
Smith has no financial cushion because in June she moved the store and put all of her money into sprucing up the new location. To cope with the huge loss in business, she has drastically curtailed the hours of her two employees and called publishers and other vendors to warn them she'll be late paying some bills. She is offering deep discounts on some books to entice customers into the store and planning several big promotional events this fall. She is looking to the bank for cash to keep operating until her business recovers. "Hopefully, I'll get a loan and have a really good Christmas," she said.
It could be a tough Christmas for the Palm Beach Book Store. The Palm Beach community took direct hits from hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, suffering long power outages, fallen trees and widespread structural damage that made normal life impossible. Owner Candice Cohen said she reopened the store at the end of September after being closed for nearly a month. She expects business to be slow for the near future, as natives are busy rebuilding and tourists are scarce. In a typical year, the store draws many customers from two nearby hotels, the Breakers and the Ritz. "The Breakers was closed by Frances and is just now reopening, while the Ritz will be closed for four months due to damage from the two hurricanes," she said.
For now, in Palm Beach and throughout the region, booksellers can only hope and wait for a return to business as usual. "It's going to be good to hear that places are getting back to normal," said Wanda Jewell. "But I haven't heard that yet."
—Additional reporting by Claire Kirch and Bob Summer
