Maine Bookstore to Change Hands After Successful Pledge Drive

Earlier this year, Lacy Simons, the manager of Rock City Books & Coffee, in Rockland, Maine, was given the opportunity to purchase the bookstore. Simons had been manager of the store for nearly five years, when Suzanne Ward, Rock City’s current owner, decided to sell the bookstore portion of the business following the death of her husband and business partner last spring.

After working at nonprofits early in her career, and later attending grad school, Simons had little opportunity to build a savings account. Knowing she would have a difficult time securing a loan, she wrote a letter to close friends and family members, asking for some help.

In early March, she extended her outreach through Twitter and Facebook, drawing inspiration from sites like Kickstarter.com, a funding platform for artists and musicians.

“I just thought, I’m really confident that this will be successful,” said Simons, “in a way that’s rewarding [for me] now, and for the community in the future.”

In a letter posted to her blog, she explained her aim to buy the bookstore and her need for more capital to secure a loan. Simons promised potential pledgers that, at the end of her second year of business, if she were still “holding on and reasonably solvent,” she would donate their pledged amount to a charity of their choice in their name.

She linked to her letter from Twitter and Facebook, and “it really took off from there,” Simons said. She used the website Shopify to make it easier for people to donate. Supporters of her endeavor began linking to her page as well, and she quickly began to get coverage in local newspapers and industry publications, as well as on personal and professional blogs.

“Really, all it took was a couple people to post it initially,” she said, “And then it just started going everywhere.”

Donors included friends, family members, and booksellers, in addition to many strangers who simply encouraged the bookstore’s survival.

“I haven’t completely broken it down yet, but about 50 percent of the donations were made by people I haven’t met in real life ... yet,” said Simons. “Hopefully, I will eventually.”

Donations came in from 26 different states, and from places as far removed as Canada and Australia.

On her Hello Hello blog, Simons keeps donors up to date and involved in the process. She has linked to every piece of press she’s received and details how far along she is in the process.

“I wanted to make sure to keep everybody aware of what was going on and wanted them to feel like a part of this thing as it grew,” she said.

Simons set goals for herself along the way, but the final goal was to raise $5,000 by the end of April. That goal was met and surpassed. Simons was able to raise just under $7,000 since her appeal’s launch in early March.

Last week, Simons was able to secure a loan, and ownership will transfer later this month. Simons will be changing the store’s name to Hello Hello, which, she said, is “just fun to say. I like the treading-dangerously-near-cute friendliness of it,” she said, adding that it brings to mind an image of rotary phones, an artifact that has been lost to technology. This is a category that books are sometimes put into, she said, and the store’s new name, along with its mission, is to preserve those things.

Simons plans to make a few small changes, including increasing the merchandise sold in the store. She hopes to include more art and music-related items, as well as vintage items.

“I really just want to increase the appeal to people who may not be interested now,” she said. “I want to give more people a reason to walk in the door.”