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| Jeremee DeMoir | |
DeMoir Books & Things, Memphis, Tenn., the city's only Black-owned bricks-and-mortar bookstore, has launched a $15,000 GoFundMe campaign, "asking the community for help amidst rising rent and inventory demands," ABC24 reported, adding that the fundraiser's goal is to "address rent costs, pay increases for staff and inventory costs to keep the store afloat."
Owner Jeremee DeMoir wrote on the GoFundMe page: "We're an all-inclusive bookstore that supports our city and its literacy mission. Since opening in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, we've been fortunate to serve our community with a FREE Children's Book program (ages 0-17) and offer many services, including space for people to work from the store remotely, community book clubs, movie nights, and book signings.
"However, due to rising rent costs at our location, the uptick of new titles being released weekly, and inventory demands, it has been hard to keep up financially. We have always been committed to providing the best version of the store and ensuring our staff continues to be taken care of, but right now we could use a little bit of help.... We've stayed afloat during the pandemic thanks to the dedication of our booksellers and the commitment of indie-loving book readers and authors who choose to book our space for their events. Your donations would help us continue our mission to address literacy gaps in children via our free book program and help us continue our mission of fostering a love of reading in our city."
DeMoir, a former teacher, told ABC24 that he opened the store after noticing how limited reading material was for African-American children in schools: "Being functionally illiterate is a thing, however, it should not be and in Shelby County, our literacy rates are extremely low. Not only because of access, but because of content.... I spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars buying books for my classroom library and realized that I could make it bigger. What about the other children in the community? What about the other children in the city?"
He added: "Independent bookstores have it differently. We aren't funded by franchises or big corporations and so all of it comes from us to us. That's the whole thing about being a community, it's being there for the next person... so we're trying to make sure we do that."