When Your Town Needs a Bookstore… Why Not Open One Yourself?

It was on a writers conference in Southampton that a chance encounter changed a woman's life forever. While sitting in a cafe, she received a missed call from a woman she had worked with on a housing affordability task force in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. The caller, named Beth, suggested that their small town could benefit from an independent bookstore. Intrigued, the woman agreed to discuss the idea further, and thus began a journey to bring a bookstore to their community.

Swarthmore, a town of approximately 7,000 residents, already had a coffee shop, a pizza parlor, and a small grocery store. However, the town was struggling to support a bookstore. The woman was unsure whether Swarthmore was big enough for such a venture, but she trusted her instincts and decided to give it a try. The teaching she had been doing was dwindling, and she felt she had less to offer as a teacher, so she welcomed the opportunity to write, work in a bookstore, and be surrounded by more people.

The woman and Beth agreed to take some time to talk to people, sign up for classes, and decide if they wanted to move forward with the project. During this time, the woman began working on a novel inspired by housing affordability issues in towns like Swarthmore. The novel explored the effects of zoning laws on housing costs and the impact of these laws on local communities. Meanwhile, Beth began planning the renovation of a building for the bookstore.

As the woman continued working on her novel, she realized that the idea of inviting more people into her spacious, dilapidated, turreted house resonated with her. She applied for a seat on the town's planning commission, giving her a voice and vote on zoning issues. However, she soon discovered that opening a bookstore was the perfect way to bring people together and address the housing affordability crisis in Swarthmore.

With Beth's support, the woman decided to move forward with the project and began transforming the building into a bookstore. Even though the woman didn't plan to live with more people herself, her growing desire for more interaction and the novel's central theme of inviting more friends into her house shaped the main character's strategy. Through the bookstore, the town of Swarthmore would not only have a new community hub but also tackle the issue of soaring housing costs and preserve the character of the place.