3c hapter - Index of

108 Locavesting
is not going to come in and save our town. It’s our town and our
responsibility to make sure that we continue to exist.”
Bookworms in Shining Armor
Sure, cops love their doughnuts. But many of us feel just as
strongly about our own favorite neighborhood spots—those quirky
cafes and shops that give our communities their unique identities.
And when those beloved businesses run into trouble, customers
have often rallied to save them.
I’ve seen it a number of times in my own area. Bread- Stuy, a
coffee shop in the gentrifying brownstone- fi lled neighborhood of
Bed- Stuy, Brooklyn, fell behind in taxes in 2008 after the recession
ate away at sales, and was seized by tax authorities. Neighbors organized
fundraisers, collecting enough for the owners to reopen the
shop. In August 2010, the New York Times reported on an 80- yearold
family- run grocery store in Point Lookout, New York, that was
similarly struggling in the recession. More than 150 customers
wrote checks to help the owners pay $100,000 owed to a supplier. 1
But, like the offi cers of Clare, some local residents have gone
further, extending loans or becoming part owners in a venture.
Vox Pop, a café and performance space with a populist bent
(“Books, Coffee, Democracy,” its sign reads) in Ditmas Park,
another emerging Brooklyn neighborhood, was credited with
sparking a culinary revival along a stretch once dominated by dollar
stores. When it hit a rough patch, the owners sold shares to
loyal customers, turning it into a sort of community collective in
keeping with its Marxist spirit. (More on that later.)
Perhaps nowhere do passions run as deep as among book
lovers and their local bookstores. You know the kind of place—
a cozy, well- curated bookstore where you can browse and bump
into neighbors. Every good neighborhood once had one. But
independent booksellers have been brutally squeezed by megachains,
online retailers, and now the Kindle and its digital ilk. The
American Booksellers Association, a 110- year- old trade association
for independent bookstores, has seen its membership shrink by
more than half since 1990, to about 1,800 members. 2