Amy Williams, owner of As the Page Turns bookstore in Travelers Rest, S.C., has launched a $15,000 GoFundMe campaign to help manage two separate leases as she moves the shop, WYFF reported.
The lease on her store at 32 S. Main Street, where she's been for five years, is set to expire at the end of the year and would double in cost, which is outside of her budget. The new space for As the Page Turns is at 3 Plaza Drive, where the lease will start on October 1. Williams is unable to break her current lease, so she will be paying temporarily for two locations.
"The markup on books is very, very slim. No one gets into the business of owning a bookstore to be a millionaire," Williams said. "You can enter the business because you love books and you love reading, and you love putting the right book in the right hand of the right reader, and, you know, small bookstores don't get the same advantages that big bookstores get."
On the GoFundMe page, Williams wrote that the money raised will go toward paying off the remaining lease amount and utilities for the final three months of 2025, and covering the costs of moving inventory, fixtures, and shelving. Thus far, a bit more than $2,300 has been raised toward the $15,000 goal.
"I am in tears every single day of the support that we've gotten so far," she said.