Jeannine Cook recently launched a GoFundMe campaign for Ida's Bookshop in Collingswood, N.J., that exceeded its $23,000 goal in just five days. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the landlord had raised the rent for Ida's Bookshop, and Cook, who also owns Harriett's Bookshop in Philadelphia, was able quickly to crowdfund enough to pay the rent at her Haddon Avenue location through the end of 2024.
"The community raised it," she said. "I'm so grateful. It's very hard to be creative and innovative when your head is barely above water."
In an on-line pamphlet requesting the community's support, Cook wrote, "Small businesses face an uphill battle against corporate giants and million-dollar developers. The struggle for survival and growth is not just economic, but also a fight to preserve the uniqueness and character of local communities."
Isis Williams, board president of Haddon Township Equity Initiative, a nonprofit that supports marginalized businesses and people who live in South Jersey and a real estate agent, said, "We recognized [if Ida's moved] it wouldn't just be a big loss to the community. It would support where the world is right now, that people have moved on since Covid. It's the responsibility of the community not just to march and celebrate [MLK Day], but to show up when the businesses needs help."
After the successful fundraiser, Cook says she's now free to "strategize and plan a sustained future for Ida's Bookshop within Collingswood without the additional stressors of making ends meet from month-to-month.... Our overall goal is to purchase a building in Collingswood and stick around for generations."
In an Instagram post, Cook called the campaign a "HUGE testament to your SHOWING UP in so many ways on behalf of yourselves, each other, us, and the future. Just writing to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for what we've done TOGETHER and what we will continue to do together."