Here’s the quote that leapt out at me from the Washington Post story on the closing of A Likely Story, only a year after it was declared “the most outstanding children’s bookstore in the nation,” from co-owner Dinah Paul:
“People loved us, but they didn’t equate loving us to buying from us… When we finally looked at all the bills coming in and saw how it would never match the cash flow, that’s when we decided to sell.”
Now, it’s true that, as Brigid Schulte‘s reporting details, the true story of this closure is a bit more complicated. Paul herself admits that “running the business end was a struggle,” observing, “We had the best six months in the store’s history and the worst six months. And we never understood why.” But even if she and her husband had figured out and consistently applied the best practices for their business, a successful community bookstore ultimately depends on the community not taking the social and cultural opportunities a good bookstore can provide for granted.