Help Avid Bookshop Move Into the Next Chapter with Strength

My name is Janet Geddis. In 2011, a lifelong dream came true: I opened my very own bookstore here in Athens, Georgia.

Connection and belonging have always been central tenets of Avid Bookshop; they also happen to be two of the most powerful ways to combat fascism, hatred, and isolation. Avid is a space where people can come together, learn about the world, and find joy and connection. In the face of escalating book bans, racism, anti-intellectualism, anti-critical-thinking, and—frankly speaking—anti-literacy, places like Avid are increasingly important.

They are also increasingly complex and expensive to run, and signs show that the road is going to become more difficult to navigate by the day.

As harrowing as 2025 has been thus far, I’ve found a deep sense of purpose and inspiration when thinking about the next chapter for Avid Bookshop: we’re moving to a larger, more accessible, and more affordable space in late spring 2025.

The changes aren’t limited to a new address: we’ll be making both behind-the-scenes and public-facing shifts to our operations as well. More on that to come, but trust that it’s all good news and all of it comes from my desire for my business to be a source of strength, connection, delight, peace, education, introspection, and community. If Avid is to continue to be a home away from home—a safe place—for all of us for the long haul, I need to keep apace with the upheavals we’ll surely continue to encounter during these turbulent times.

We want to be a part of Athens and the book world for as long as we can. To do that, I need your help.

We are asking friends, fans, family, and book lovers worldwide to help us with the transition to our next phase and allow us to operate from solid footing from day one.

Would you please donate what you can to help me secure Avid’s present and future? Can you dedicate some funds to making sure that our progressive work is not dampened (or drowned) by the powers that be?

I’ll post more as we get closer to our new location’s grand opening (date TBD), sharing more about the business, my philosophy, and why I am turning to crowdfunding to meet our financial needs. I will also share more about the huge shifts we’ve made over the course of Avid’s run as well as the major changes to our strategies—especially financial ones—we’ll be implementing going forward.

Curious to learn more? See below, where I've gone into some detail about the reasons behind our upcoming move.

Thank you so much. Your support means more than you might imagine, and every. single. dollar. helps this little bookshop that could.

Love,

Janet G.

Here's how and why I’m approaching this relocation in a novel way:

After spending much of the last year working with financial advisors, attending financial management courses, speaking with book industry advisors, dramatically decreasing our spending, completely ceasing the use of credit cards, reducing our debt obligations to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and making innumerable tough decisions, we are ready to make this move into a more stable economic future. I’m not naively going into this just hoping things will be different—I am approaching the shift with a new perspective and a new wealth of knowledge.

• In the past, I might have put our opening inventory costs on a credit card, waiting to pay them off at the end of the year when holiday sales inflated our bank account. Of course, even one month of a late credit card payment incurs interest and penalties, so in the end we would’ve been paying way more for inventory than what we ever intended. This time around, I want to prepay for our inventory so that the money we earn upon selling it can be reinvested into the business instead of directed to credit card corporations.

• In the past, I might have applied for an ill-advised working capital line of credit. This time around, I am better educated about the predatory nature of these lending tools and know that they hurt far more than they help.

• In the past, I would probably have been okay opening the shop without sufficient inventory, trusting that the money would come and soon the shelves would fill. While I still do trust that process, I also recognize that that comes from a scarcity mindset and will result in fewer sales as we start this new era of Avid. I want to kick off the new location from a place of abundance, giving us the time, economic breathing room, and space to focus on our community initiatives and customer service instead of dedicating tons of time to managing cash flow. Hence this GoFundMe, an effort to get ahead of the game before we even open our doors.

• In the past, I might have tried to build out and develop the new storefront on a shoestring, buying low-quality furniture and supplies that would need to be replaced down the line. This time around, I am reusing and repurposing the lovely yet durable fixtures you’re familiar with from both our Prince Avenue shop and our Five Points store, plus adding in some high-quality used items acquired from my own house, local thrift stores, and customer donations. We’re working with local, independent creators, designers, and craftspeople to design a store that will knock your socks off. Because we already own lots of shelving and supplies, our budget is modest but not deficient.

• In the past, I would have tried to do as much as possible all by myself, holding off on hiring new staff and trying to avoid asking for help until I was really in a bind. This time around, I…well, I’m still trying to do as much as possible all by myself, but I’m taking better care of my health (a must for anyone, let alone folks like me who live with disabilities), and I am trusting that the Avid readers really mean it when they say that they’d like to contribute in some way.

• In the past, I would have relied on publishers’ often-generous due-date structure to stock the store without having to pay up for 30, 60, or even 90 days. But that doesn’t adequately address the stressful cashflow issues that plague nearly every small business I know—rather, it kicks the problem down the road, giving a false feeling of reprieve that doesn’t truly give us the space to innovate, strategize, and work with our supporters (you!) to create a place that will serve all of us for many years to come.

• This time around, I am hoping to prepay for inventory using cash money so that we can stop the mad game of obsessively checking the bank account every day and instead feel confident that we have the resources to handle all of our economic obligations.

• In the past, I would have assumed that the energy I feel now might miraculously last forever, morphing me into someone with endless time, endless energy, and an endless passion for bookkeeping. This time around, I am actively acknowledging that time, energy, and passion can never be boundless. With that in mind, I’m planning to hire a bookkeeper who has the interest and expertise in managing the day-to-day financials so that my brainpower can be put toward my areas of strength. I can admit that it’s very unlikely I’ll ever have a passion for bookkeeping—but that that I’ll always have a passion for books.

• In the past, I would have planned on skipping my own paycheck for as long as I could in order to direct that money elsewhere, a habit that I’ve had to revert to numerous times since 2011—a habit I am ready to break. This time around, I am truly and finally exhausted of having to sideline my own needs until the business’s basic obligations were met. I imagine that being current on all my basic needs (rent, car payment, auto insurance, health insurance, utilities, groceries, etc.) will reduce my stress exponentially.

• In the past, I might have been overly optimistic about just how far a dollar can go. This time around, I am using thirteen-plus years of on-the-ground experience—plus experts’ knowledge about inflation, increasing costs, the impacts of tariffs, etc.—to make educated guesses about how to adequately budget for my business.

• In the past (and as we speak!), it’s been hard to adequately analyze past data, feel present for customers and staff in the now, or innovate for the future when I’m distracted by the fact that even one day of lackluster sales can impact Avid’s ability to meet our financial obligations. This time around, I am hoping to fundraise enough that we can have reserve and contingency funds.