Matt and Cherry Reid of Booksmith Musicsmith in Orleans, Mass., announced they will be closing the store they have owned for more than 25 years later this summer. In a Facebook post explaining the decision, Matt Reid wrote that since the lockdown in March due to the Covid-19 crisis, the couple had been dealing with serious health issues.
"If we said that being small business owners wasn't stressful enough without the health issues, we would be lying," he noted. "Our business has been steadily declining for years, mostly because of the Internet. We were offered a second chance by Orleans Marketplace and Todd Thayer and just over five years ago we took that chance, but you can't stop Amazon. Enter Covid-19. Suddenly it's recommended that you go out as little as possible so where do you shop? The stress of trying to make ends meet and pay our monthly bills has taken a toll on our emotional well-being and our health....
"The writing has been on the wall for some time now. Even if we were able to dig our way out of the debt we have incurred, winter will come, along with the possibility of another surge of Covid, lack of tourists for the unseen future among other things. Worrying all the time makes it hard for us to enjoy going to work. We have become afraid of what the day may bring. We just know we can't continue like this. The level of stress has become too much to bear. We don't know what's next for us. We have until August 31st to wrap things up."
The Reids thanked "all of our employees along the way but especially Justin for sticking with us to the end, and to our current landlord for his amazing and kind support. In closing we would like to thank the community of Orleans and the surrounding towns for supporting us over the last 25 years, and the years before we bought it, going back to the late '70s. We enjoyed being part of this special place. We loved being part of your lives. God bless you, stay safe and be kind to each other. We will never forget you all."