What's the point of all these "encourage local business" agencies in Wellsboro?

An open letter to members of TCDC, HARB, the Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce, the Deane Center Board, the Tioga County Commissioners, elected representatives of the area, AND anyone who is concerned with the health & welfare of small business in our area --

Written by Kasey Cox, ridgerunner born & raised, who went away and chose, gladly, to return ...


When area planning agencies, such as V.I.B.E. for Blossburg and the Mansfield Chamber of Commerce, have looked at the businesses and services that they'd like to have to improve their downtown districts, most of them have included a bookstore. Since 2008 – less than two years into From My Shelf's existence – we have been courted by representatives from Corning's Gaffer District. Many visitors to the area have become regular customers at From My Shelf, commenting that “it isn't a trip to Wellsboro without going to the bookstore”, and “my grandkids beg to come to From My Shelf when they're here.” Visitors from all over the country wistfully tell us that they would love to have a store like From My Shelf in their area. Some well-meaning, but slightly-snobby, first-time tourists have looked at our selection in amazement, asking us, “How do you know about all these authors? Who here reads all these books?”

Just like living near the PA Grand Canyon but going years without taking a hike, there may be some local people who don't realize the treasure they have in From My Shelf Books & Gifts. We currently have over 50,000 volumes in stock, across a huge range of prices and topics. We have an affordable membership program that allows people to “co-op” with us – discounts on new items, a “punch” card, and the opportunity to trade books in for store credit. Each month, we sponsor several regular activities, groups which have included writers' groups for adults as well as one for kids; at least one author event; a book club for adults, and a book club for teens. We've invented book-related scavenger hunts, leading participants through the town, visiting many local businesses, bringing foot traffic and PR.

Six years ago, we created BookFest, a community literacy celebration that, even in its first year, hosted over 40 local & regional authors for an open house meet-and-greet situation. In addition to giving the public the chance to purchase a specially-inscribed book by an author they met in person, BookFest also holds a used book sale, whose proceeds have gone to buying more inventory for the Wellsboro school libraries. Together with the authors and the school district staff, we have raised nearly $5,000 to date. With that money, the librarians have purchased books with From My Shelf, where we gave them a 30-50% discount on the books they were buying, stretching that money even further.

Although we believe passionately in supporting local, regional, first-time, and/or small-press authors, we have also brought traditionally-published, award-winning authors to Tioga County as well, including Lee Welles, Carolyn Turgeon, Susan Williams Beckhorn, Jeanine Cummins, Marta Perry, and, most recently, Jay Paterno. Once they have come to From My Shelf, authors love returning! They love Wellsboro, and they love shopping at our bookstore. They often bring their friends and families, who not only love From My Shelf, but love shopping Wellsboro's downtown district.

For the last two years, From My Shelf made certain that Wellsboro was one of only 250 towns and cities in the nation that was chosen by Candlewick Press to host a “Where's Waldo?” event throughout the month of July. These events receive national press, and Candlewick Press provides all kinds of PR for their star yearly event.

We understand that social media can be a double-edged sword – in a world where people seemed glued to their Smart Phones and wi-fi is expected to be everywhere, people can be just as quick to leave a grouchy, nasty review as to compliment on a great experience. Nevertheless, we have carefully built the facebook page for the bookstore to include a large, positive, enthusiastic audience of followers. Not only do we tell our facebook fans about events at the bookstore and notes of literary interest, we also share tons of information about Tioga County businesses and attractions. To date, our store facebook page has 7,119 fans; even the facebook page specifically for the bookstore cats has more than 1,400 'likes'. While there's certainly some overlap between the store page and the cat page, as well as some overlap between Kevin's personal page, my personal page, and the store pages, overall, we are reaching more people via social media than the pages for the Tioga County Visitors' Bureau, the Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce, the Wellsboro Gazette, KC101 radio, or any other business in Wellsboro. We have an enormous reach, and we use it daily to promote this area.

Kevin and I grew up here; our families grew up here. Kevin has had two businesses here in Wellsboro – his gym, Touch of Wellness, and our bookstore, From My Shelf. He has been a member of the Wellsboro Chamber for a total of more than 12 years!

Between the two of us, we know practically everyone in the area, because we either worked with them, played a school sport with them, went to church with them, were in scouts with them, or we're related to them. Around here, it's not 'six degrees of separation', it's more like two. The point is, we want to serve and help our community. We opened this bookstore and have kept it going, despite all the odds stacked against small businesses and especially bookstores over the last decade, because we care deeply about this area and about community literacy.

We opened From My Shelf Books & Gifts in the summer of 2006, in the little basement space at 87 Main Street. We began with about 3,000 books, mostly used, but dreamed from the beginning of building a great bookstore. This dream was not just for us, but for Wellsboro, Tioga County, and our larger region. Kevin and I scrimped; we planned and learned and worked our tails off. Over the next five years, our inventory grew to almost 20,000 books across nearly every genre and price range. Although no store can truly have “something for everyone”, a bookstore can come close: if there's a topic you're interested in, there's probably at least one book about it. We relished the challenge of finding at least one book to match every person, but we were definitely outgrowing our space.

We had hoped to go into one of the retail spaces suggested for the new Deane Center. I was in the very last Hamilton-Gibson show to be performed in the old Davis Furniture space; when we wrapped “Our Town” and “The Laramie Project”, instead of just breaking down the sets, we cleared the entire space, readying it to become the Warehouse Theater. At the bookstore across the street, we watched as construction began on the new Deane Center, and took photos of its progress. My grandfather worked on the organizational board, and was one of many larger donors. We emailed several people on the Deane Center board at that time, asking if we could meet to talk about possible opportunities for the bookstore. We got one or two brief emails that basically amounted to “wait and see” letters. When news finally came, it was upsetting to hear how it was decided that the Fifth Season would occupy all the retail space: we felt the bookstore was a good match for at least part of the retail space in a new center for the arts. It's nothing against the Fifth Season or its owners; as business people, we see how giving all the space to one business is NOT good business for the Deane Center.

However, our landlord, David Zavetsky, let us know that 25 Main Street was coming open, since the Fifth Season would be going to the Deane Center, so it seemed a great silver lining. The old “Bliss Hardware” building is gorgeous, and a prime location for retail in Wellsboro. We happily signed a three-year lease. As you probably know, we asked our friend, Julian Stam, if he would like to move in to this bigger building with us, and share space and expenses. While we were leasing 87 Main Street, we had begun a relationship with Julian Stam, and his game products. Early in our time at 87 Main, Julian had learned that one of his main game wholesalers would no longer sell to businesses who operate only online. He needed to have space in a brick-and-mortar store, and hold gaming events, in order to continue to buy and sell their products. So, Julian sub-leased a small section of our store at 87 Main Street, and we began to co-sponsor some game nights with him.

After a while, we felt that the game events needed to be consistent. People would stop in the bookstore or call, asking when the events were being held, so it seemed having them on the same night every week would be best to grow the events. We suggested a regular Friday night game night. Julian agreed, but did not want to commit to being there every Friday night: he explained that he was running a business out of his home, selling mostly online, so he could have the freedom to spend time with his family. We respected that, but said we would continue to run the regular Friday night events. We asked that he come to as many as he absolutely could, and he honored that. However, it is important to note that while Julian went on vacations with his family and was able to participate in other community activities, we worked every Friday night to build a regular event schedule. We hoped this would ultimately benefit all of us – both businesses and the members of our community.

You probably know the end of this story, or at least have heard how much of this turned out. The Stams became “Pop's Culture Shoppe” and moved with “From My Shelf Books & Gifts” to this new location on the corner of Main Street and East Avenue. It is incredibly unfortunate that our move to 25 Main Street brought so much strife. Despite what you may have heard, no one is blameless in this situation.

We all had bad luck from the beginning. Just as we were signing the leases during the holidays of 2011, a young man drove down East Avenue, in the wee hours of the morning, drunk, uninsured. His car “glanced off” the building going just under 100 miles an hour. This crash threw people out of their beds in the upstairs apartments, knocked glassware off the shelves in the Steak House, and nearly took the building down. His car ended up on the stairs of the Methodist Church.

The repairs from this crash took much longer than anticipated. Among other “normal” delays, our landlord had to deal with insurance fraud from the first contractors he hired. The Stams and we tried to move in at our agreed-upon lease date of March 1st, working around construction. It was next-to-impossible to decide on how the floor plan would be divided among us. First, the floor plan we were originally given had incorrect dimensions. Then, with huge, temporary plywood walls blocking much of the space while it was under construction, it was hard to envision the finished space we would share. As you probably know, we began to have a lot of disagreements about how we would share the space. Tensions grew; tempers flared. We all did and said some stupid and regrettable things.

In August 2012, we offered to go to mediation with the Stams. We approached Terry Ginn, and asked him if he would be willing to mediate. We informed our landlord of our intentions. He indicated was at his wit's end, feeling torn between two constantly disagreeing tenants. He felt that mediation or arbitration was imperative, and threatened both parties with eviction. We asked the Stams if they would go to mediation with Mr. Ginn, or another mediator of their choosing. It is our understanding that Julian Stam met with Terry, and Terry felt it was a good talk. Julian's wife and co-manager, Anja Stam, did not attend that meeting, and, ultimately, we were told that the Stams were not interested in mediation of any kind with us.

The bookstore was then served an eviction notice in October 2012. In June 2014, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled unanimously (three judges hear the case) to dismiss LYDA's eviction of the bookstore as “petty”, explaining that none of the reasons LYDA gave for eviction met a definition of a “material breach” of the lease. Thus, we were allowed to stay till the end of our three-year lease.

The bookstore's lease with LYDA ends on March 31, 2015. Living for the better part of two years with the threat of near-immediate eviction hanging over our heads, we have looked at many places to move the bookstore in Tioga County. We have considered many, many options, and talked to lots of different landlords and realtors. All through this, we have continued to sponsor our free events. From My Shelf has donated to just about every cause, fundraiser, and nonprofit venture around, from big things like the playwriting contest that allowed Hamilton-Gibson to continue the short play festival for two more seasons, to individual requests for an item for raffles to help offset costs of cancer treatment. We have never turned away a request for a donation.

Over the past two years, as we have struggled with slander, gossip, and harassment from our landlord, even after he was reprimanded by PA Superior Court judges, we have kept our mouths shut, declining to comment to the newspaper, being discreet in what we shared with our customers about what was being said to us and about us. Only here, as we approach the end of our lease, and are running out of good options for a new place to move the bookstore in Wellsboro, have we approached the “officials” of Wellsboro for help. All we have gotten in response are polite, vague, political letters like “I hope it works out for you.”

TCDC's mission, as stated on your website, is “passionately striving to improve the quality of life
of our communities, our residents, our business[es] … and our environment in our quest to make
Tioga County . . . a place to call home.” This describes not just the mission of From My Shelf, but our actions as well. We are passionately and intensely involved, every day, in improving the quality of life in our community. We do this through free activities that foster cooperation between many of our businesses, and that encourage community literacy. We do this by offering a huge variety of books – our inventory has an incredible range of prices and genres to choose from. We do this with all the things I've mentioned above.

Surely, From My Shelf Books & Gifts is a worthy investment for TCDC to focus on. We employ three people full-time, in addition to Kevin and myself as owners. Over the years, we have provided temporary work to many young people in the area, who worked for us for a summer or a year, between college semesters, or between college graduation and grad school. We've sponsored several high school students, to fulfill their requirements for job shadowing, community service, or internships. We buy all of our shipping supplies from Tyoga Container Company, instead of buying with some big corporation like Uline. We shop with Huffman's Office Products and Tioga Office Products. We buy everything we can locally. We pay local school taxes, since we own a house in the 'Boro.

Do you know how many visitors tell us how much they wish they had our bookstore in their hometown? If you realized how many people tell us how lucky Wellsboro is to have a bookstore like From My Shelf, you might pay more attention to the fact that you are coming close to losing us.

TCDC needs better planning for downtown Wellsboro, perhaps in coordination with the Chamber of Commerce, or HARB. If Wellsboro is to continue to be a tourist town, one whose economy is largely driven by tourism, then Wellsboro needs to pay more attention to making the downtown district one that is enjoyable for tourists who want to stroll through town and shop. The more insurance companies, banks, and real estate offices who take the prime locations on Main Street, the fewer tourists – and locals – will enjoy their time on the beautiful, historic streets of downtown. Tourists do NOT come to town to shop for insurance. Locals can drive to banks on side streets, and use the parking provided by their banks, or the drive-through. People like to come to town, to walk to their favorite coffee shop, to meet friends for pizza, to wander through the bookstore, to buy clothes at Dunham's, to stop in for a treat at the candy store.

As locals and as business owners who depend on the walk-in tourist traffic, we are frustrated and frankly, disgusted, by the laissez-faire attitude of the official planning organizations in the area. One recent example of how the current situation does not work happened when we threw our hat in the ring to rent commercial space that had just come open in the Bird Building, on the corner of Main Street and Central Avenue. United Country Realty, having just become Howard Hanna Realty, had decided to buy a building instead of leasing, and to move off Main Street, leaving a beautiful space open for lease, on Main Street, in a prime location, right across from the Deane Center. When we asked about renting the space, we were told that the owner was already deep in negotiation to bring a small, satellite office of a national bank to the building. So, Fulton Bank will be leasing this beautiful Main Street building. Just what Wellsboro doesn't need – another bank in the downtown area.

While we understand that landlords can and should be allowed to lease to whomever they want, and have the right to charge whatever is best for their business needs, we need some kind of organization that works with landlords and with local businesses to build and enrich downtown Wellsboro to encourage tourism, to support local people in their efforts to start and maintain small businesses downtown that provide jobs, and to maintain businesses where local people want to shop, too.

What organization is this? Is this the Chamber of Commerce? One would think that the Chamber of Commerce would specifically support, encourage, and help maintain “commerce” in the area. We've been told that the Chamber has no means to help businesses with mediation, nor can they influence landlords or building owners. While this is understandable, it also shows an area where we may need to improve or expand what the Chamber can do. The Chamber sends out tourism packets all the time, but people will be less likely to visit or stay long if all they find on Main Street are “commerce” services. Even locals only visit their insurance office a few times a year.

We'd like to ask how area agencies are helping local businesses – not just the “big boys”, like banks or insurance companies. Our locally-owned, indie businesses are a big part of Wellsboro's special charm. People come from all over to visit and enjoy our little shops. They know they can go to franchises and malls anywhere. We offer special, one-of-kind shopping, dining, and hospitality experiences. This is a huge reason people come to Wellsboro and keep returning. Locals who shop downtown do so for the personal experience. It's the old “Cheers” sitcom experience – a place where everyone knows your name. They know what style shoes your daughter wears, what kind of latte you prefer, and what genre you like to read.

I'd like to see more support for small businesses, from the Chamber, from TCDC, from the “officials” of Wellsboro and Tioga County. I'd like to see them in my store more, and I'd like to hear them speak up in meaningful ways for keeping our small businesses on Main Street. I'd like Matt Baker to show up to a new store opening – or re-opening in a new location – instead of showing up for the re-opening of corporate McDonald's. McDonald's doesn't need the support of our local officials; it is doing just fine. There's no risk of McDonald's going out of business. For the planning and business “support” organizations for our area, I'd like to see more evidence of people putting their money and their mouths where their mission statement says.

If you've read through this entire letter, I offer you my sincere gratitude for taking the time to listen. If you only skimmed or had your secretary read it, hopefully you'll see this last paragraph. From My Shelf as a business has asked little to nothing from the official folks or organizations meant to help business in Wellsboro and in Tioga County. We don't need to ask for help from our customers, friends, and fans: they've showed their support in a myriad of ways, and in loud, enthusiastic voices. If you aren't yet part of that group, we welcome you to find out what we're doing and why we have the support that we do. Even if you don't become a customer, certainly you can see how important From My Shelf is for our area, and the benefit of keeping us here. We have become a cornerstone of Main Street, Wellsboro, and we hate the fact that this will probably have to change. Consider what you can do to minimize the negative impact of a move, or worse, of losing From My Shelf altogether. And, please, put some serious thought into the kinds of actions and services that official organization might offer in the future to prevent losing great small businesses in our little towns.