Sunday, February 22, 2009

Viroqua Bookstore Challenges the Odds


Link to February 21 Wisconsin State Journal article, "Bibliophiles open bookstore in Viroqua despite downturn in economy, bookselling industry".

Excerpt:
The floods that overwhelmed southern Wisconsin last summer deposited nine inches of water in the nondescript warehouse in Viola where Allegra Wakest and Eddy Nix built an online-only business selling used books.

The muck destroyed more than 3,000 books, but there was a bright spot. Volunteers — most of them strangers — helped move about 60,000 books to dry land. Many of the volunteers were stunned to learn that such a vast book collection existed so close by.

"Everyone said, 'We didn't even know this was here. We wish you would open a bookstore,'" Wakest said.

Now she and Nix have done just that, embarking on a venture that seems at odds with the reality around them.

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