DOWNTOWN MELTDOWN: BOOKSTORE FOLDS

Last week River Bank Books & Music on Monroe Center closed one year after its opening to much fanfare.  The local print media has reported this as a sign of the dire state of retail in downtown G.R.  Now there is much foreboding as to whether or not downtown can thrive as an urban community.  Well, let's take a breather here.

First, what does the failure of one bookstore tell us?  Not a lot about downtown G.R. specifically.  With cheap on-line and suburban big box competition, selling books is a tough racket.  It's no knock against the owner of River Bank Books, Debra Lambers, that her store didn't work out.

And it's not a knock against downtown G.R. either.  What works there are those businesses that can turn a buck drawing only upon customers who live and work downtown or come there for special events.  This is especially true as the residential community there is still nascent.  Over time certain retailers will survive upon that foundation and acquire a reputation that brings in customers from outside downtown.  Only then will retailers there include the quirky and the charming that people from outlying districts value in urban neighborhoods.

But that quality cannot be planned, either by the government or private developers such as was attempted with River Bank Books.  It can only grow over time.  After a number of decades, the fertile soil for that growth -- a diverse residential community -- is in place.  Now we need to let time take its course and not read disaster into the failure of one pioneer.

Comments

[Steve Smith]

Not only that, but check out the laundry list of tax breaks River Bank got, including a $50K grant for build-out and a Renaissance Zone, whereby the shop and its employees avoided state and local income tax, property tax, personal property tax, and SBT. They got every tax break possible. So nobody can say this shop was taxed out of business. Too bad, I really liked going there. Planners may be shocked, but their dream that downtown "needs" a bookstore just doesn't jibe with market reality. It's a good thing our civic leaders replaced the lost tax revenue from River bank Books with some cash from that everlasting money tree in their back yard-- otherwise us dumb taxpayers would have had to make up the difference!

[jonathan nososwift]

yeah real cute...don't you all see the real deal? Debra took the money and ran..to her other store up north with plans of expansion. River made money all right..and incidently was selling gift cards right up to closing. I really wonder what actually went on and if she had these plans from the get go. Its my opinion that this whole deal is extremely shady and if given all of these tax breaks one should'nt be able to close a business without proof that it was actually doing badly. So the real question; did river city books actually just rip off the city?

[The Executive Director]

Hi, Steve.

I agree with you about the tax breaks. Lower taxes are good. But they should be across the aboard, not targeted at projects favored by the politicians and planners. Moreover, I'll say it again. If a business needs a special tax subsidy to turn a buck, then why would the city want to encourage such a marginal business to come to town?

Regards, Bill

[The Executive Director]

Hi, Jonathan.

Welcome to L.A.W.

Interesting info on the selling of gift cards. That should raise eyebrows.

As for River City Books ripping off the city government, I wouldn't put it that way. It is the nature of businesses who beg for special tax breaks to say they can't make money without them. So city officials knew what they were getting into when they did this giveaway of taxpayer dollars.

The real question, as I raised with Steve, is why such marginal businesses should be subsidized and encouraged with our tax dollars in the first place?

Regards,
Bill Tingley
Executive Director