DeWitt Mall

215 N Cayuga Street

Ithaca, New York 14850

Phone: 607-273-8246

Email: buffalostreetbooks@hotmail.com

Website: http://www.buffalostreetbooks.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/buffalostreet

Twitter: @buffstreetbooks

Gary Weissbrot, general manager

Alice Ball, children’s book buyer

A cooperative.

Specialties: fiction, poetry, children’s, cookbooks, art, travel, politics

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Here is a wonderful letter I received from an outstate customer of Buffalo Street Books:

I wanted to tell you about a great story that you might want to share.

In Ithaca NY, where I’m staying, there is a bookstore which I’ve fallen in love with over the last three years: Buffalo Street Books, the consummate independent bookstore.

I just learned that a while back the owner was being forced to close his doors due to the economy and publishing landscape. He sent out a letter to all the patrons apologizing for having to close and thanking them for all their kindness over the years.

They were outraged and saddened. Some of them banned together, with employees, held a meeting and brainstormed ways to keep Buffalo Street Books alive. They came together, formed a cooperative, purchased it, kept the owner as the manager so he can continue to follow his passion, and it is alive and better than ever (which means the same, really) now.

Recently when I purchased The Night Circus there, I was asked if I was an owner when I checked out and that baffled me. That’s when I learned this story.

Isn’t that great?!

- Hugs, Kathi Dunn, book cover designer extraordinaire, Dunn & Associates