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St. Mark's Bookshop Must Raise $150K or Go Out of Business, Owner Says

By Lisha Arino | December 1, 2015 5:28pm
 St. Mark's Bookshop has launched a crowdfunding campaign to keep the business afloat.
St. Mark's Bookshop has launched a crowdfunding campaign to keep the business afloat.
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DNAinfo/Lisha Arino

EAST VILLAGE — St. Mark's Bookshop is continuing to struggle in its new location — and might not make it into the new year unless it raises $150,000 in the next month, according to a crowdfunding campaign launched Monday afternoon.

“For St. Mark's to have a future beyond 2015, we need the immediate help of friends like you who value the bookshop as it once was and can definitely be again,” wrote co-owner Bob Contant on the shop’s GoFundMe page.

No donations have been made so far, although the bookstore did not publicize its campaign until late Tuesday afternoon.

As an incentive for donors, St. Mark's Bookshop is offering lifetime discounts to those who contribute at least $25, according to the site.

The 38-year-old bookstore moved to 136 E. Third St. near Avenue A last year; it was driven from its East Ninth Street location due to high rent.

But the relocation was “undercapitalized,” Contant wrote, even though the owners raised money for the move through an auction of rare books and a crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $50,000.

As a result, the shop has been unable to stock enough books to keep the business afloat, leaving some shelves empty, Contant said.

“We’ve been going along for the past year just trying to replace the key books in the store and yet we’re doing less and less business because the inventory is depleting,” he told DNAinfo New York by phone Tuesday afternoon.

The shop also tried to raise money earlier this year by putting out a call for investors, but that effort fizzled when only a handful of people expressed interest, he explained.

“This is our last stand,” Contant said. “If this appeal doesn’t work and we can’t raise money, we really can’t afford to be here.”