Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Sept. 24, 2024 – Verb Bookstore exceeded donation goals over the weekend when it asked for community support while it struggled to stay afloat.
Verb Bookstore owner Sari Harlow put out an Instagram post on Friday stating the business had been struggling and it needed $3,500 by Saturday to pay employees.
The next day, Harlow made another post stating that over the last 24 hours, the store received nearly $6,000 in donations from over 200 people.
“I don’t even have words really,” Harlow said on Instagram on Saturday. “The last 24 hours have been incredible, I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Yesterday blew me away. Our book fairies and baristas will be getting their full paychecks.”
The indie bookstore was Harlow’s dream, according to Emily Wing, general manager and event coordinator of Verb Bookstore. Even though Wing started working there in April, she knew Harlow from years before.
However, after a larger bookstore returned to town, the store began a downward decline. Harlow asked Wing to help run the store, as she had experience with running businesses.
“One thing about when you’re an indie bookstore is that you can’t keep up with the prices of big-name businesses,” Wing said. “Online or in-store, they can buy bulk books of 100,000 books and send them out to a thousand stores, but whenever we buy a book, we’re required to sell it at that price. You’re going to buy the book at this much, you must sell it at this much, and then you’re set.”
Wing said they’d spent months discussing what to do and, with six employees, it had become hard to cover payroll.
The bookstore tried multiple things to stay afloat. It hosted events, but those can come with unexpected expenses. Other ideas included closing one day of the week, such as Sunday or Monday, but that didn’t work because Mondays are the store’s busiest days, and employees liked working Sundays.
“When you work at a small business or an independent bookstore, it is crazy the number of hoops you have to jump through for the little things,” she said. “We’re both constantly doing everything we can and giving it our all, but there’s always a hoop. Week to week is not consistent so you can’t really see what’s going to happen.”
“I love books. Way back when we were talking about [starting the store], I was like, ‘Oh, it’s always my dream to work at a bookstore’ and now I am,” she said, noting how emotional it has been for all the employees as they love their little shop. In fact, Wing said she had spent that morning and the night before crying at the thought of losing their beloved bookstore.
Wing noted that this is Verb’s fourth year doing pop-ups and the full bookstore store and coffee shop had been open almost two years, so technically, Small Business Saturday will be their fourth birthday.
“We have had our fair share of gathering around the campfire these last few weeks, but I literally feel Verb is like the Verb logo because love is a verb. The whole concept of Verb is, gathering, serving community and making sure that people feel loved and wanted, while selling books and having fun,” she explained.
“We’ve always felt that, but today was very overwhelming for me to come in and to feel it because, this weekend is my daughter’s third birthday, and her birthday party was paid for by the community and they don’t know that. I know that because my paycheck came from the community this week and that’s really big,” she said.
Wing added that after Harlow made the post about payroll, it had been made through tips, donations and last-minute online orders from the night before. Plus, they had received tremendous love from their customers all that morning.
“This is what this business is for,” Wing said. “Engaging the community and showing people love.”
Upcoming events at Verb Bookstore include:
- The 4th annual Booktoberfest, which is hosted by both the Verb Bookstore and the Native Brew Work, will take place Oct. 5, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at both business locations in Jonesboro.
- The 2nd annual Brewing Hope Coffee Festival, which will be hosted by Hope Found, will be Oct. 12, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Gardens at Harmony in Jonesboro.
- The Kid’s Spooky Story Time is on Oct. 26, from 3-5:30 p.m. at the Verb Bookstore in Jonesboro, where they will be telling kids Halloween stories and giving out Halloween bags. Costumes are encouraged.
Although they do not have a phone at the store, Wing said people can visit them online at www.verbbookstore.com or via their Facebook page and they will reply as quickly as possible.