A Local Bookstore's Fate Lies in the Hands of its Community

If The Reader's Forum's life were a book, the title of its current chapter could be, Internet Isolationism Plagues an Old Fashioned Bookstore; its Fate Now Lies in the Hands of its Community.

Boutiques, specialty stores and restaurants line the avenues in charming Wayne, which boasts a wealth of history that can be seen even today in the area’s more distinguished buildings.

Quaint two-story storefronts line North Wayne Avenue, the majority occupied by small businesses. Among them, The Readers Forum, an old-fashioned bookstore owned and operated by Ed Luoma, 59, and Al Willis, 62.

"There are fewer and fewer options for people who love coming into bookstores."

has served the community as a source for literature for more than 25 years. And over the years, the owners have seen competition come and go.

“There are fewer and fewer options for people who love coming into bookstores, said Luoma. ”We’re now the only general new bookstore between here and Philadelphia.”

But even with the demise of Borders and the current financial issues of Barnes and Noble, business at The Reader’s Forum hasn’t been what it used to be, and they, like their competition, have fallen on hard times.

“Were losing a lot of our customers to attrition,” said Willis. “They’re moving to smaller houses because their children have left and they don’t buy so many books. A lot of our customers are moving to warmer climates because their spouses have retired or passed away and they’re not being replaced by a younger generation.”

The natural cycle of life wouldn’t be so hard on the shopkeepers, but technology’s grip on the area’s youth isn’t leaving much bandwidth for businesses like theirs.

“People are just not buying books like their grandparents were buying books,” said Willis. “They have these iPads and iPhones.”

“E-Readers were introduced about 10 years ago,” said Luoma. “But it didn’t catch on at first. It's only been the past couple years.”

“If you listen to the hype, there’s a lot of people that say that’s why Borders went under, because of e-books. But that doesn’t make any sense. I think it was gross mismanagement. And they just got to be too large.”

He continued, “I hear people say 'isn’t it sad that Borders closed?' And I think, why is that sad? That’s just business out of control,” citing billions of dollars of accrued debt.

Luoma has been able to stay afloat amid a lack of working capital and ongoing credit troubles because of the Forum’s small size, keeping the shop buoyant, if only just barely.

“You just adjust the way you order,” said Luoma. “A book that you might order 10 copies you scale back to five. A book you’d order five copies you scale back to one or two. You make those adjustments and don’t stock as much at any given time. But of course you can’t sell it if you don’t have it on the shelf.”

Because of their current economic situation, Luoma and Willis have had to cut back on extras, like business cards and their website.

"I don’t think anything replaces a book."

But in order to stay viable in today’s fast paced world, small businesses have had to learn to adapt. Evolving from snail mail to email didn’t happen overnight, but over the past decade many mom-and-pop shops across the country have had to evolve and change with the times in order to survive.

Yesterday’s advertisement in the local paper is today’s Facebook fan page. Small business owners spend hours online creating websites, tweeting updates, and making friends. Their social media program boasts shiny new stock, unbeatable deals and a priceless insight into the interesting people who make the little shop go-round.

Without any Internet presence to speak of, no Wi-Fi or plush couches to offer, and no lattes made by an in-house barista, The Reader’s Forum has none of the lures that have become so pertinent in today’s youth-driven, media-centric marketing strategies.

Just “books, as usual,” as the Forum’s tag line reads.

“We found it [the website] not to be cost effective,” said Luoma. “So we didn’t keep it up. Right now, we're just trying to be an old fashioned bookstore. And since the options have gotten fewer and fewer, there’s got to be room for us.”

“Whatever the general economic state of things, I don’t think anything replaces a book,” said Luoma. “It’s the cheapest way to travel. You can go anywhere.”

"We’ve fallen on sort of hard times lately."

Luoma and Willis have been selling books to enthusiastic readers for years. But The Reader’s Forum’s current iteration is only the most recent chapter in the bookstore’s history.

In 1959, John Hastings, the son of a Chester County grain dealer, opened his first bookstore in Philadelphia: Hasting’s Books. The store relocated a handful of times, but by the 1970s it had settled into a space near Broad & Walnut. It was during these years that two young men, Ed and Al, began working part time for Hastings.

In 1974, competitive pressures forced Hastings to close his Center City location. He purchased the existing Reader’s Forum in Ardmore where he and his employees worked for more than a decade.

Years later, a bank showed interest in the space. When Hasting’s landlord refused to renew his lease, he was forced to relocate and in 1986 moved into the Wayne storefront, ().

When John Hastings died in 2001, it was his two employees, Ed and Al, who kept the independent bookstore running.

"There’s that rumor now that independent bookstores are on the rise."

Customers loyal to Hastings, Luoma and Willis have been the lifeblood of The Reader’s Forum. But it’s not been an overwhelming volume of best-selling sales that have kept the store going.

Luoma credits their recommendations and the shop’s old fashioned feel that has kept customers coming back.

“They want to know what’s really good,” said Luoma.

Like their current best seller, The Gift of Rain, a WWII story set in Asia, or a novel called Little John, that tells the story of a dirt-farmer, which Luoma has to consistently restock.

“Some people think they’re such snobs over there at The Readers Forum because they don’t sell that stuff,” said Luoma. “Well, I’d be pleased as punch to sell a thousand copies of the new James Patterson. But the reality is that those high profile books are everywhere and they’re deeply discounted. And so that takes that market away from us. But it also leaves everything else wide open.”

“There’s that rumor now that independent bookstores are on the rise,” said Luoma. “And how could they not be. It’s the only direction to go, since they’ve been in decline for so long.”

"I’ve been trying to save that local book store."

The Reader’s Forum doesn’t have any of the bells and whistles its big name competitors boast. Its vast and varied selection is hidden within a wanderer’s paradise.

Crooked, unmarked aisles snake through the store’s cluttered shelves. A small children’s area is the only recognizable section, though enough patience reveals a categorical system abandoned years earlier.

“Normally, we’d have things more regimented by section,” said Luoma. “But because we’ve fallen on sort of hard times lately, we’ve just been keeping the current stuff up front.”

The disarray is disheartening.

“Hopefully credit issues won't be so tight, so we can get more stock in,” said Luoma. “That’s the main thing.”

But as they say, it’s always darkest before the light.

Kathy Hydier, a local realtor and neighbor, has taken on the bookstore as her own personal project.

“She came at Christmas, decorated the joint, swept up the place, vacuumed; I mean, Mother Theresa couldn’t have done a better job,” said Willis.

“I’ve been trying to save that local book store,” said Hydier. “I’ve seen them struggling.”

And she’s not the only one. Over the holidays, others in the community reached out to help. Noticing her efforts, a local man went and had two big posters printed up that read “Merry Christmas; Please support your local bookstore.”

Hydier plans on collecting some kids chairs and making a sign for the children’s book section. She’s also working to get authors in the door: a practice that’s generally saved for those big named competitors.

Hydier is on the board of a charity called Mission Kids, which opened a child’s advocacy center for sexually abused kids in Montgomery County a few years ago. Mission Kid’s founder and Montgomery County District Attorney, Risa Vetri Ferman has since wrote a book called The Mouse Who Went Surfing Alone, the story of a young mouse, that despite his parents warnings went surfing alone and came across numerous predators.

The book is available via the Mission Kid’s web site, but come March, during Wayne’s First Friday celebration, The Reader’s Forum will be the exclusive retailer for the new children’s title.

“We’re actually giving them all the books and giving them a $1 for every book that’s sold,” said Hydier.

The First Friday preview of The Mouse Who Went Surfing Alone will be the first of what Hydier, Luoma and Willis hopes is many more events held at The Reader’s Forum.

“As long as the community supports us a little bit, we’ll hang on,” said Willis.

You can find more articles from this ongoing series, “Dispatches: The
Changing American Dream” from across the country at The Huffington
Post. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/dispatches-the-changing-american-dream)