Customers Unite to Save New York City Strand Bookstore
The Strand Bookstore
Book lovers from all over New York came together after a plea from Strand bookstore’s owner, Nancy Bass Wyden. On October 23, Bass Wyden tweeted that revenue decreased to 70 percent since last year, and the company’s cash reserves were running low due to the pandemic affecting business.
“I’m going to pull out all the stops to keep sharing our mutual love of the printed word,” Bass Wyden tweeted. “But for the first time in The Strand’s 93 year history, we need to mobilize the community to buy from us so we can keep our doors open until there is a vaccine.”
The bookstore owner encouraged the community to support the Strand with the #savethestrand. She also stressed other ways people can help, which is through shopping at the bookstore, buying from their early holiday gift guide, and giving away gift cards from the Strand. The response from the tweet exploded that the website crashed due to over 25,000 online orders compared to their usual 300 orders a day, approaching $200,000 in sales.
The bookstore has not been met without criticisms as news broke out that Bass Wyden bought at least $115,000 of stock in Amazon, after previously claiming that the company would hurt independent businesses. She argued that the stock would be a beneficial economic opportunity to keep the Strand from shutting down. The store also publicly clashed with unionized workers and furloughed 188 employees.
Founded by Bass Wyden’s grandfather in 1927, the Strand has endured the Great Depression, two World wars, and the aftermath of 9/11. However, Bass Wyden believes that the coronavirus pandemic might be what forces the business under.
“How can I not love my book community for helping like this?” she said. “I really don’t think that we’re just a book store. I think we’re a place of discovery and a community center. When I ask for help and they respond this fast, it’s so heartwarming.”