When the AP reported earlier this week that damage from Hurricane Irene would be less than $10 billion, a fraction of the $14 trillion U.S. economy, it was easy to lose sight of its true impact on booksellers. At a time when indies have taken hits from e-books and e-tailers, they can ill afford to close even for a day. "It’s significant if you have a summer season. You’ve got payroll and no revenue," said Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J. Julia’s in Madison, Conn., whose store lost power and was on what Coady called "10-to-3 flashlight hours. We’re basically out of business."
In addition to catastrophic losses like Bartleby’s Books, which was destroyed along with much of the town of Wilmington, Vt., Vermont booksellers could lose most of the fall leaf-peeping season. With covered bridges and roads, like one connecting Rutland and Woodstock, washed away, tourists won’t be able to make their regular pilgrimages.
In advance of the storm, Banks Square Books in Mystic, Conn., declined to accept a 50-box shipment. Now with power restored, they have the books. Yet they still face what Steve Fischer, executive director of the New England Independent Booksellers Association refers to as "the old credit department tick, tick, tick." Banks Square and other retailers--like Sarah Pishko, owner of Prince Books in Norfolk, Va., who was forced to close for two days--will have to begin paying almost immediately for books at a time when power outages have also affected booksellers’ ability to cut checks for publishers.
Some stores with power like Fountain Books in Richmond, Va., have seen a dip in sales because other businesses across the street and many of their customers are in the dark. For some stores just the threat of power outages cut into sales. “Summer visitors fled in reasonable expectation that they might not have electricity,” said Carol Chittenden, owner of Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Mass. They were correct; much of the town is still without power.
Electric outages, flooding, and closed transportation systems have hit employees as well as customers. Island Bookstore on the Outer Banks, with stores in Duck, Corolla, and Kitty Hawk, N.C., reopened with curtailed hours. According to their Web site, they will be open based on staffing availability.
Back in Vermont, the state's numerous independent presses are also dealing with the aftermath of Irene. Inner Tradaitions, located in hard-hit Rochester, had its power restored Thursday afternoon along with its telephone and Internet service. No one on the staff was injured, but h a few people suffered severe property damage. The publisher was able to keep up with the orders via one of its young staffer's home satellite Internet service.
