Brain Lair Books, South Bend, Ind., will remain open after issuing a "final plea" last month to supporters in a social media post saying that the store would have to close October 31 "without immediate help from you" because it was "short of meeting our obligations this month."
The bookstore needed, it said, to sell 5,682 books from its in-stock inventory to make it through the month. In an October 30 post, the store noted: "We did it! 5,744 books sold! Because of your support, our doors will stay open, and we're more ready than ever to transform our space into a true community hub!"
Owner Kathy Burnette told WSBT she initially believed reaching the sales goal was impossible, but the community stepped up, surpassing that goal in just 12 days. Now she is looking to expand the bookstore's role in the community, with new book clubs, workshops, and events focused on community needs--from children's story times to helping high school students navigate college applications.
Burnette is also "working closely with another bookstore owner who has faced similar issues, discussing what she can do to keep her doors open and stay away from future close calls," WSBT reported.
"I got to talk to a lot of people. They were telling me why they came up, why they were helping us, how they felt about the store, what it meant to them," Burnette said. "Even people who didn't live here. We had a lot of people coming down from Michigan. We had people coming up from Indy, people coming over from Chicago. People were just saying we heard about this."