Disasters/Relief

Christine Onorati of WORD and Kelly Justice of Fountain Bookstore offer tips to increase online sales and to ensure your customers know that your website is always open for business.

Wednesday at Wi7 will be capped by an interview of award-winning historian Douglas Brinkley, author of The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, by Bob Minzesheimer of USA Today. Here Brinkley talks about the heroes and bad faith players in Hurricane Katrina, indie booksellers’ role in the area’s economic recovery, and his upcoming titles.

With much hard work and the help of family and community members, Lisa Sullivan hopes to reopen Bartleby’s Books before Thanksgiving. The Wilmington, Vermont, bookstore was almost totally destroyed by flooding from Hurricane Irene.

Most bookstores will never have to deal with severe flooding, but for those in high-risk areas, FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program offers coverage provided by national carriers that can be purchased through LIBRIS, the ABA insurance company, or another licensed broker.

RiverRead Books in Binghamton, New York, and Farley’s Bookshop in New Hope, Pennsylvania, are both fine structurally, but are operating in cities that were heavily affected by flood damage and had mandatory evacuations last week.

SBA Offers Free Disaster Preparedness Webinars; Man Booker Shortlist Announced

Most bookstores on the East Coast survived Hurricane Irene intact and were able to reopen within a day or so, but several were severely damaged, including North Carolina’s Manteo Booksellers and Vermont’s Bartleby’s Books.

After record flooding in Minot, North Dakota, one third of the city is under water, but Val Stadick’s home and her bookstore, Main Street Books, are dry. Stadick is focusing her energy on helping friends and neighbors, but she also worries about the future of her business.

The Book Cellar in Brattleboro, Vermont, which was destroyed by a catastrophic fire on April 17, is closed indefinitely, but store staff is busy moving scheduled events to Bartleby’s, owner Lisa Sullivan’s second store.

Since the earthquake that shook New Zealand's South Island on September 3, Booksellers New Zealand, the organization representing the country’s independent bookshops as well as major retail chains, is finding ways to stay involved and reach out to its members.