We were incredibly upset when we heard that Borderlands Books was going to close, due to low bookstore margins combined with a rise in the local minimum wage. This would not only make San Francisco a way less cool place to live, but do great damage to the science fiction book world. So thank goodness there's a hope for a reprieve.
After a long and intense "town hall" meeting last week, Borderlands owner Alan Beatts has agreed to let people buy sponsorships at the store — for $100 a year, you get a number of as-yet-undetermined benefits, and you get to help keep a San Francisco institution going. According to this blog post, the current ideas for benefits include:
- Reserved seating at author events
- The ability to rent the cafe and / or bookstore outside of normal operating hours for private events at our cost (which is roughly $25 to $100 per hour)
- Invitations to a quarterly gathering at the cafe where you can socialize with other sponsors, members of Borderlands' staff and occasional special guests
- Access to preview sales of rare and collectable books whenever we make a large acquisition
- The opportunity to purchase occasional items produced by us for sponsors and not offered to the general public (such as limited Ripley prints, chapbooks, and so forth)
- A selection of unique apparel and accessories showing your status as a sponsor and not available to the general public
- Invitations to sponsor-only events, like small gatherings with authors, exclusive writing workshops, and more
I'm especially excited about the unique apparel, and also the writing workshops, which I would be excited to attend. Details are available at the Borderlands site, but basically you have to pay in person or via phone — they're not doing this via their website, unfortunately. If you can spare $100, it's well worth doing this to preserve a place to buy and celebrate science fiction and fantasy books. I still wear my Pandemonium Books T-shirt, from when that store nearly closed, with pride.
DISCUSSION
Not to be a curmudgeon, but Gaia Bookstore in North Berkeley tried this several years ago and it only extended their lifespan by an extra couple of months. And if a community as wealthy and New-Agey as North Berkeley couldn't keep its flagship bookstore afloat, I have to wonder if the sci-fi community of the SF Bay Area can sustain a tiny brick-and-mortar retail outlet in a spot of town where rents are skyrocketing with no end in sight. If Borderlands can pull it off, bully for them, but I suspect this donor arrangement will be no substitute for steady sales revenue.