Customers respond to Glebe bookstore’s blunt appeal for help
Longtime local business on track to meet sales target thanks to caring community
A small bookstore that has been a fixture in the Glebe for more than 40 years says its story will end unless it sells $10,000 worth of books this month.
Octopus Books has launched a bluntly worded appeal to customers, asking them to buy books or gift cards online to get the store through the unexpected business downturn caused by the COVID -19 pandemic.
“Like many local independent businesses in Ottawa and across the country, we won’t get through this challenging time without the support of our community,” the bookstore said in a message to customers. “Simply put, we need to bring in at least $10,000 in sales by the end of the month in order to keep going.”
Lisa Greaves, owner and manager of Octopus Books, said she felt odd at first with the idea of asking for help at a time when so many people are in need, but she wanted the community to understand the situation.
“I decided that I’m not so much asking people as I’m telling people,” she said in an interview Monday. “I meant it like, ‘Hey folks, I think Octopus is an important part of the community and I’m not sure we’re going to make it. And before I make that decision by myself, I think I should share that information with you.’”
Greaves sent out an email Saturday, and has been overwhelmed by the response ever since: “Literally, within 10 to 15 minutes of the email going out, someone called and bought a gift certificate for $500. The phones kept ringing and the emails kept coming.”
Octopus Books is now approaching its sales target for the month. “It makes me feel good and it makes me feel heartened. This will keep us going for a little while,” Greaves said. “But it also makes me feel conscious that every other small business is going through exactly what we’re going through. I don’t know how you pay rent if you don’t have any revenue coming in.”
The stores, bars, theatres and restaurants that make up main streets across the city face immense uncertainty as the COVID -19 pandemic unfolds. Many have been ordered closed by the provincial government, with only guesstimates about when they can reopen.
Some owners are being creative about trying to maintain a revenue stream in a time of social distancing. The Mayfair Theatre, for instance, is selling personalized seats, a nameplate on the back of a seat, for $150. The theatre has been closed for more than a week, but the seat sale has gained traction on social media.
“Very unexpectedly, in the last few days, I have become a seat seller,” said co-owner Josh Stafford. “It has been very nice. I think that today we will pass 100 seats sold.”
Built during the Depression in 1932, the 325-seat theatre is one of Ottawa’s last neighbourhood cinemas.
“It has been this amazing thing,” Stafford said. “In this world of giant chain stores, it’s interesting that when this happens, people are thinking about the little guy.”
Theatre employees, he said, will be paid their forgone wages this month, after which the Mayfair will reassess its position. “I don’t want to think about it because it will make me cry, but, yeah, there is a worst-case scenario in this,” Stafford added. “But I think all of us are not trying to think about that at the moment.”
Octopus Books started out as a basement newspaper in 1969. The young academics who launched it named the publication for the shape of the furnace they worked beside. The counterculture publication morphed into a Bank Street bookstore that became known for its progressive collection of books about poverty, politics and social activism.
In 1996, the store was about to declare bankruptcy when Greaves, a one-time volunteer, came to its rescue. She had purchased a house with an inheritance, which allowed her to borrow enough money to assume the store’s debt and keep it in business.
Greaves now operates Octopus Books out of a Third Avenue store, which has a large selection of children’s books and stocks many local authors. Said Greaves: “I’m trying to be optimistic but, of course, things change every day.”