South Bend bookshop owner sets lofty goal to stay open
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The owner of a bookshop in South Bend is looking to sell more than 5,000 books by the end of the month in order to avoid closure. Kathy Burnette, founder and CEO of Brain Lair Books, said on the store’s website that she must make $25,000 in order to meet the store’s financial obligations.
Burnette, a former librarian and teacher, told our partners at WSBT-TV that a variety of issues have led to the store’s difficulties, such as online competitors like Amazon as well as recent book bans.
She said if she doesn’t hit her goal, she is prepared to close the store after a difficult year.
“Whichever way it went I was going with that… if it didn’t work, closing was October 31,” Burnette said. “My staff and I already talked about it so we already knew all of this was happening. It was just a matter of let’s tell the community and see what happens.”
Burnette posted on Facebook late last week that the store needed to sell 5,682 books from its in-stock inventory by Oct. 31 to stay open, and the response from the community was overwhelming.
“Then Saturday was insane. From the moment we opened to the moment we closed, even after we closed, I still had people knocking on the door. We did more on Saturday than we do for more than an entire month.”
Brain Lair Books has sold about 2,000 books toward its goal. You can find more information on the store’s website.