A Ketchum bookstore will stay in business thanks to donations from its community. Last month, we told you ago about Iconoclast Books owner Sarah Hedrick and her Indiegogo campaign to save her store.
Hedrick was on the verge of bankruptcy thanks to a wildfire that drove tourists away last year added to long-term debt. Hedrick managed to raise nearly $90,000 and now she says she’s negotiating a five year rent agreement with her landlord.
Hedrick says she wouldn’t be in business without a huge outpouring of support from the people of the Wood River Valley. But she admits not everyone was behind her.
Hedrick says another local business owner told her, “We all got hit hard by the fire. Why should you throw a pity party.”
It wasn't competing bookstore owner Cheryl Thomas who said that, but she wasn't a fan of Hedrick’s campaign. Thomas owns Ketchum’s Chapter One Books and is not only a competitor of Hedricks's, but a friend.
Thomas says she’s happy Hedrick succeeded, but she thinks Iconoclast’s success will hurt Chapter One. Thomas says she’ll be, “lost in the dust.”
She thinks everyone who donated will feel a new sense of loyalty to Iconoclast, the store they helped save, and shop there instead.
Hedrick and Thomas have a complicated relationship, you might call them frienemies. Both praise the other at length. They talk about partnering on community events, and during hard times they’ve supported each other. But they are also wary of each other. They’re in direct competition in a small town in an industry that has struggled for decades.
Here’s the thing Thomas is most bothered by in Hedrick’s campaign. She says most everyone who wrote or talked about it gave the impression that Iconoclast is the only bookstore in town. Hedrick says she had some qualms about using this quote as her campaign’s theme:
“What I say is, a town isn't a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it’s got a bookstore it knows it's not fooling a soul.” - Niel Gaiman
Hedrick says she did not want to give the impression hers was Ketchum’s only bookstore. Thomas says whether she meant to or not, Hedrick did create that impression.
Having two book stores in a small town is rare. Other than Boise, Ketchum is the only Idaho community with more than one store that sells primarily new books. Only a few Idaho towns even have one new book store according to the American Booksellers Association. Taking the quote above literally, most Idaho towns are not towns.
Follow reporter Adam Cotterell on Twitter @cotterelladam
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