3c hapter - Index of

Community Capital 113
three young employees in a mock Russian accent. Stockton- Bagnulo
beamed. Then she ran off to fi nd a customer a book.
Indie Revival
Community capital can take many forms. And, while it is not a
substitute for a well functioning banking system, it can help plug
a funding gap for many small- scale Main Street businesses in both
rural and urban areas. This is not risk-free investing, however.
Bookstores, in particular, can be dicey propositions. Given their
slim margins, they are never going to be big money makers. And
the march of digital media has clouded the future of the printed
word. Even those bookstores with a passionate following may not
be able to survive the competitive pressures. Big Table Books in
Ames, Iowa, for example, was famously funded several years back
by customer- investors, including author Jane Smiley. But after 13
years of operation, and the opening of a Borders nearby in 2003,
the store, with its blue tin roof and colored tiles, shut its doors in
August 2006. “It was never a commercial venture. It was a citizenship
venture,” one investor told the Des Moines Register. 7
In addition, like any enterprise, a community- funded business
is vulnerable to sloppy management. Despite its iconic presence
and community support, Vox Pop, the Brooklyn coffee shop
and café, was shuttered for good in September 2010. Its founder,
Sander Hicks, a political radical, author, publisher, and former
punk rocker, apparently didn’t care much for regulatory regimes
like tax collection and health codes. Even under new management,
the café wrestled with the debt and fi nes left behind by Hicks. In
mid- September, the café’s assets were quietly auctioned off.
Still, those seem to be the exception rather than the rule. In
many cases, community fi nancing imposes management discipline
that was missing. Often, advisory boards are formed and customerinvestors
with business experience work with the founder to craft
a more viable business plan. They’re all in it together, after all.
What seems clear is that the outpouring of community support
across the nation signals a thirst among consumers for independent
merchants and businesses.