Brilliant Books

The past four-ish years have been a rollercoaster for all of us. You've come along with us through all of it and we couldn't have asked for better, more enthusiastic company on this ride, which is what makes this so difficult: We have to ask for your help again.

We know we've asked before and, honestly, we feel kind of sick asking again. But we are so, so close to being on track again. We won't pretend it will be smooth sailing, but there is a clear path forward if only we can make it over this last hurdle.

We don't want you to think that we've been taking for granted or wasting all the support you've already shown us, so further down the page there's a more detailed look at our situation and how we put your support to work, creating and maintaining all the things you love about your Long Distance Local Bookstore.

In brief, we need to raise as much as we can by the end of the month to pay off one of our biggest suppliers. If we can pull that off, we're going to be in a much better place moving forward, but if we can't, we're going to lose a lot of hard won ground paying down the debts we incurred during the pandemic and, frankly, we're not sure we have the strength to claw our way back up out of that hole again.

Before we go any further, we want a couple things to be very, very clear:

1. Our existing obligations are our priority. We will not let this impact getting books to our Brilliant Books Monthly subscribers or our event obligations. We would rather empty the store entirely than renege on those promises.

2. This is not the end for us. Our doors won't close on March 1st if we can't get clear with this supplier, but we're not sure what our next steps would be at that point, because it will depend on the exact situation. We'll have to cross that bridge if we come to it, but, with your help, we won't.

If you've stuck with us this far, it's clear that our little bookstore matters to you, and we are so profoundly grateful to have you with us. We will do everything we can to be worthy of your support of us and what we do.

For those who want more details about our situation, here's a quick but frank rundown:

For those who want more details about our situation, here's a quick but frank rundown:

At the beginning of the pandemic, we had to quickly invest in infrastructure (shipping equipment, remote work technology, etc) in the hopes of not going under immediately. We also chose to pay all of our staff even while our doors were closed.

To handle those expenses, we accrued debts. These weren't extraordinary in the normal scheme of things, but no one realized how long things would take to get back to normal. Our debts were compounded by the increased cost of doing daily business as the price of everything from books to shopping bags skyrocketed. Our shipping costs rose week after week as we shipped more packages at ever higher rates. We raised our booksellers' wages multiple times—while they absolutely deserve every penny and it's the least we can do in this new working environment, it wasn't something we had originally budgeted for.

We could no longer estimate our income and expenses with any semblance of accuracy. Costs changed quickly, mandates shifted, and our doors were open, closed, and open again. Our debts mounted. Our previous stop-gap actions, like our Shelf Preservation campaigns, have helped keep the worst of those debts at bay and also covered unexpected situations like the building restoration and our server failure, which kept us from falling further behind.

As we have become accustomed to this new world and no longer have to pivot every other week, we have been able to buckle down and make a significant dent in our outstanding debts. We cut costs, made significant changes in how we buy our stock, and focused on doing everything we can to add value for our customers, like doing more events and community outreach. We have made huge strides and it looked like we would be able to scrape by through the winter if everything went according to plan.

Spoiler alert. It has not gone according to plan. We knew all our bills from Christmas would come due around now and had set aside what we could, but the lack of winter snow has meant fewer visitors for all of Traverse City's businesses. Our income has been lower than expected even with our very conservative estimates, which means our day by day expenses have eaten up every dollar as it comes in. Yesterday, we took in about $500, which doesn't even cover the rent for that day, let alone the wages for the staff who were working. It's left us nothing additional to put toward those looming holiday debts. We are now stuck between a rock and a hard place with one of our biggest suppliers. If we can't pay off a significant portion of what we owe at the end of the month, we'll end up on hold.

While this in and of itself isn't the end of the world, it means that we won't be able to get books in as quickly, or, in a few cases, at all. We'd lose the ability to ship books directly from the supplier's warehouse, which would be hugely inconvenient for our customers. We'd start losing the ground we fought so hard to win and taking on more debt simply isn't an option.

This puts us in a position of slowly diminishing returns. If we can't get the books customers want, we lose sales. If we lose sales, we fall further behind with our debts and suppliers. Eventually, it becomes untenable, so our best option is to prevent being put on hold or, barring that, make sure it is as brief as possible. Things will be tight, but we've come this far, and, with your help, we can keep going.