Toadstool Weathers the Ice Storm

Last week's destructive ice storm in New England and upstate New York left The Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough, New Hampshire, without electricity for several days, but owner Willard Williams and staff kept the store humming all weekend long despite the lack of electricity. Power was back on Tuesday, and Toadstool's phones and Internet connections returned by that afternoon. "We never actually closed the store, even though we didn't have any power or phones," Williams said. The ice storm had shut most other businesses in the downtown area, but Toadstool and a cafe were open, and the cafe was serving hot soup and coffee.

The bookstore was without heat, but shoppers and staff kept their coats on, and flashlights and booklights were distributed. While at times it was "unpleasant," said Williams, he was pleased by the community spirit, which had neighbors helping each other and trading power outage stories.

Some residents did come to Toadstool to do holiday shopping, as well as buy books and reading lights for themselves, since "there was nothing else to do but read," said Williams. But business was down significantly. "That's what hurt the most," he added. "It should have been a really good weekend."

The Toadstool's Keene and Milford stores, which are about a half-hour away, never lost power. "I think they got some of the business that we didn't get here," said Williams. "We were lucky from that perspective." At press time, however, some Toadstool staff members were still without power in their homes.

Typically during the winter, the area will see a day without power, but several days in a row without electricity is rare. "We're accustomed to having the power out for a day, but this is the first time it's been this long," said Williams. "The downtown in particular, if it's without power for six hours, it's a long time ... not five or six days. It's so dark all the time. There are no bright lights, you just go from one dark place to another."

New England Independent Booksellers Association Executive Director Steve Fisher told BTW that he hadn't heard of other NEIBA members losing power as a result of the storm, but he added that many had lost a significant amount of business as people stayed close to home. --Karen Schechner