Save BookWoman!

BookWoman has relocated and been in dire financial straits in the past, but soon when they take their sign down, it might stay down. Photo by tpacific on stock.xchng

BookWoman, Texas's only femenist bookstore, is in trouble and in it fifty-large deep. If the store is unable to raise $50,000 by mid-December, they will likely close their doors for good. Austin will lose another independent business to that nebulous mantra of "progress and growth."

The road has been rough before, but never like this. Like most every independent business in town, profits are rare or razor-thin, and a steep rent hike, an unexpected jump in business taxes, construction on Lamar, a series of canceled conferences (thanks to Katrina and Rita) hit BookWoman hard in the pocketbook. Owner Susan Post did everything she could to keep her business of 33 years afloat—she's relied increasingly on personal funds and credit cards to get through the crunch, but things are reaching a critical mass.

Their lease is up at their current Lamar and 12th St. location and they have set their sights on a more affordable locale. The only thing holding them back: the ball-and-chain of credit card debt. With their lease quickly coming to an end, time is of the essence. They cannot sign a new lease until they are debt free, and so they're calling on the Austin community to help them out.

You can help out by stopping by the store to do some holiday shopping (most retail businesses rely on their holiday sales to carry them through a good portion of the year) or by making a donation to the store at SaveBookWoman.com.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Joel Nihlean on November 6, 2007 11:56 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

noraflora

ok, so I was raised in this town and have gone to BookWoman my whole life (and love it and believe it's a valuable institution)...and therefore am beginning to feel conned.

Every 2-3 years they have a Save BookWoman Crisis - I think that the problem is money management. I can remember going on the emotional roller-coaster when I was a teenager and becoming aware of my lovely precious seemingly precarious town...and my mother saying 'no, no, dear, they do this every couple of years...' and time has tested this out.

el_longhorn

Shilli,

On Post 13, couldn't have said it better myself. That really is the question we are facing. Are Bastrop and Leander our future Plano's and Richardson's? Or will we see intense growth in central Austin and moderate growth in Leander/Bastrop, helping maintain an urban/rural split?

Let Austin become the city it wants to be.

MDahmus,

"We have the weakest land-use laws of any state in the country; the state legislature is hostile to us using what tools we DO have to limit growth anywhere; and our counties' powers are far less even than our pitiful toolbox."

It's like Sun Tzu, you have to understand the battlefield and the environment before going to war. Once you realize that land use planning by gov't order is just not going to work, you have to look at the other weapons in your arsenal. Financial incentives that promote more intense development work SO FUCKING WELL!! The builders like it and it is SO tax efficient.

b

i work very close by and have something of an inside scoop (whatever that means)...i don't believe the store closing is related to condo development, and if it is, the connection is peripheral.

bookwoman is a completely wonderful business...i wish i had 50K to give 'em (don't we all?)

@mdahmus: "paleoliberals"!!? good one.

YoYoMa

I don't buy into this bull about condos driving up housing prices and killing local businesses. Growth + inflation drives up prices. When I moved here in 2000, the Austin metro area claimed 1.1-1.2 million people. Now it claims 1.5-1.6. Last time I checked, higher demand equals higher costs. Growth will continue to drive up prices so long as more people move here than move away. Get used to it.

mdahmus

Alison, I brought up the chains because of the bleating from certain quarters that when an independent business goes under, it must be because of the evil condos. Also, when an independent business opens up, are we allowed to CREDIT the evil condos? Not quite sure on that one.

LoudMouth

Right on, alisonkn. Right on.

alisonkn

i think the point joel was trying to make was that austin was becoming more like dallas or houston because we are losing our unique austin culture.

the basis of this article, to raise awareness for bookwoman's plight, seems to have gotten lost in these comments. yes, businesses (both large and small, independent and corporately owned) go out of business everyday. but i feel especially sensitive to the locally owned independent businesses here in town who are having difficulty - especially those like bookwoman who have had to rely on the owner's personal credit card debt to stay afloat due to one difficulty after another. you don't see this kind of uprising when a sonic goes out of business, because there is another one two miles away. there is not another feminist bookstore in austin, or even in texas!

mdahmus

Joel, paleoliberals often parrot the same rhetoric as your post as if we have the ability to say "no more growth". We don't. We have the weakest land-use laws of any state in the country; the state legislature is hostile to us using what tools we DO have to limit growth anywhere; and our counties' powers are far less even than our pitiful toolbox.

The BEST we can do is loosen stupid suburban-oriented zoning codes so that the market will build condos to provide residents within walking distance for retail - because the only other alternative available in the universe we actually live in is to do what Dallas and Houston REALLY did - just roll over and give it up for suburban sprawl, which is far worse for central-city businesses (no residents to make up for the people who gave up on driving in/out).

In other words, I agree with shilli - like many paleos, you have acquired precisely the wrong lesson from Dallas and Houston. Dallas is 99.9999999% sprawl and 0.0000001% downtown condo. If anything, we're becoming LESS like Dallas by building a thriving urban core.

Shawn Shillington

Joel, I think the question is really whether growth is positive. "Progress" and "development" are nebulous concepts that could mean any number of things. "Growth" pretty clearly refers to either economic growth or population growth, which are generally correlated.

I don't think growth is inevitable or necessary, and I am not at all sure it is positive. I think there are large forces in place that are causing Austin to grow, many beyond the control of our city and state government (far beyond whether or not the city allows developers to build condos on Lamar). However, the city's decisions about whether those condos can be built affects the shape of growth in Austin. Similarly, the state's decisions to build more highways probably doesn't affect whether Austin grows, but does affect the shape of that growth.

Also, I understand and accept that "becoming Dallas" is the ultimate pejorative, but I re-assert that Dallas' defining characteristic is not condos or street front retail, but endless suburbs connected by highways and filled with single family homes, chain big-box stores and office parks.

Shawn Shillington

What empty storefronts on Second Street? There is one store that is apparently shutting down because of a dispute with the landlord, but otherwise I think every spot is full. Stores are even opening on the next block, even though it is incredibly difficult to have street-front retail when you are across the street from a vacant lot.

Joel Nihlean

Sure. Condos aren't all bad. When the condo bubble pops, maybe I can even live in one.

The thing is that cost-benefit of them seems to cost the the city a lot culturally and benefit is a quite a bit economically. The question is: Is it worth the cultural cost? What is Austin's price for losing its soul and becoming Dallas?

Sound Exchange had everything in the world working against it and it seems the universe does not hold BookWoman in its favor either. The easiest to see and most direct seeming cause and effect relationship lies in the increasing land value and subsequent rent hikes. This absolutely has to do with the condos and other realestate related changes going on downtown.

Here's a question. Progress and Development are often framed as very positve things. They are seen as inevitable and even necessary. Are they?

Does Austin really need any growth at all?

Discuss.

mdahmus

Grape Ape,

Your sarcasm detector is broken. There's far more retail, restaurant, and drinking establishments downtown than there were ten years ago, before the Watson/Wynn condo craze kicked it up a notch.

Joel, you missed the point too. There's many reasons businesses go away. Paleoliberals want to blame condos - but can we blame condos for the chains that close too? Can we give condos credit for the new businesses that come in that we like?

Grape Ape

M1EK,

I'm a fan of density, it just seems to be a little absurd at the moment. Maybe its because of where I live, I guess everyone else wants to live there too and that's fine, I don't blame them. I just don't see a need for me to have to drive by a 200 foot long sign that says live here in 3 years...maybe, if we actually build. I'd rather look at the grass, trees and enjoy a sno cone.

Its funny that you bring up the empty storefronts - that appears to be a growing trend as well; especially on 2nd street.

Joel Nihlean

Remember what Baja Fresh was before it was Baja Fresh?

Sound Exchange. A great record store. Granted they were losing out not only to rising rents but also to the changing way in which music was being consumed.

heyzeus

don't forget the Schlotzky's at 6th and Congress, the Texadelphia at 7th and Congress, and the Sonic on Guadalupe just south of MLK.

mdahmus

Yeah! And that Baja Fresh on Guadalupe closed because their rent went too high because of all the West Campus condos. And the Wendy's downtown closed because of all those damn condos.

Oh, wait. We're only supposed to pretend that local businesses ever go out of business. Sorry. And nothing new has opened downtown at all in the last ten years either, of course. It's just a fucking wasteland down there now - nothing but empty storefronts. I wish we had listened to paleoliberals like Grape Ape when there was still time!

Grape Ape

Sorry, that last post was pissy on my part. My apologies if I'm getting tired of not being able ot pull out of my driveway without seeing a fucking "live here" sign for condos.

As for BookWoman; I've never been in there, but this trend is really starting to suck. Even local shops on 2nd street are shutting down. Unless there is something wrong with the business model, getting $50K in the whole because or rising rent and ovehead is ridiculous and the city really needs to start paying attention to how much of our soul we are losing due to big development.

Joel Nihlean

Sno-Beach totally got the shaft from P-Terry's. They set up their own far less successful sno-cone stand.

Punks...

Grape Ape

They should just wipe out that corner too and all of the stores and eateries there. Another prime location for condos. On that note, even Sno Beach got displaced for condos...again (well, displaced by the sign right now, but they're coming)I tried to tell people they'd be building on the banks of Barton Springs pool, they're only several hundred yards away from it now...