I've spent this morning working on getting in touch with everyone who has expressed interest in becoming a community lender for Greenlight Bookstore. (If you're interested and I've somehow missed you, email me here or here and I'll happily send you the documents and details.) Here's what I told them:
After conferring with our lawyer and accountant, Rebecca and I have finalized the new terms of the loan and promissory note for community lenders. Basically, we're giving lenders the option of choosing their own interest rate, between 2.5% (just above the minimum required by the IRS) and 4% (just above the prime rate). The loans of $1000 or more will be paid back by Greenlight Bookstore with quarterly payments over five years, beginning one year from the opening date of the bookstore (this gives us a grace period during the traditionally difficult first year of business). Interest begins to accrue on June 1, 2009, and will be compounded annually.
In addition to getting your loan back with interest, community lenders get the employee discount of 30% off all purchases at Greenlight until the loan is paid in full. And they'll get special "community lender privileges" like advance notice of author appearances, sales and other store functions throughout the life of the bookstore.
Additionally, lenders at the $10K+ level will be included in meetings (probably quarterly) of the bookstore's Advisory Council, to get in-depth updates on the store's progress. We're also working out details of an optional "lender internship" for high-level investors, in which they'd have the chance to experience the various parts of the store's operations, such as buying, receiving, hosting events, etc.
Thanks again to all our community lenders. We're so delighted and honored by your support, and we think it will prove to be extremely worthwhile.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Who We've Been Talking To and What We've Been Doing
(or, If Rebecca and Jessica Have Seemed Scarce Lately, Here Are Some Reasons Why.)
Who: a financial adviser with Pace University Small Business Development
What: putting together a massive binder-full of loan application materials, with much good advice given and high hopes of securing significant funding.
Who: a Brooklyn-based architectural firm
What: negotiating a contract to oversee the buildout, and talking about our needs and ideas for creating a beautiful bookstore out of a former office space.
Who: the Fort Greene landlords
What: talking about the lease terms, with which they've been consistently reasonable and generous -- but it's a long process.
Who: community lenders
What: talking about loan amounts and interest rates (your generosity amazes us!)
Who: the ABA, our accountant, our lawyer
What: getting advice on the items above.
Who: artistically-minded friends and colleagues
What: soliciting logo ideas and talking through their creations.
Who: our friends, coworkers, and random acquaintances
What: responding to their kind curiosity about the bookstore process, while trying not to bore them silly with too many of the details that currently obsess us!
The result of all of this talking and doing: things are coming together. We're still in the middle of it, but we're moving in the direction we want to be going. Thanks to all of you who are helping and listening to us and bearing with our busy-ness -- as always, we'll keep you posted.
Who: a financial adviser with Pace University Small Business Development
What: putting together a massive binder-full of loan application materials, with much good advice given and high hopes of securing significant funding.
Who: a Brooklyn-based architectural firm
What: negotiating a contract to oversee the buildout, and talking about our needs and ideas for creating a beautiful bookstore out of a former office space.
Who: the Fort Greene landlords
What: talking about the lease terms, with which they've been consistently reasonable and generous -- but it's a long process.
Who: community lenders
What: talking about loan amounts and interest rates (your generosity amazes us!)
Who: the ABA, our accountant, our lawyer
What: getting advice on the items above.
Who: artistically-minded friends and colleagues
What: soliciting logo ideas and talking through their creations.
Who: our friends, coworkers, and random acquaintances
What: responding to their kind curiosity about the bookstore process, while trying not to bore them silly with too many of the details that currently obsess us!
The result of all of this talking and doing: things are coming together. We're still in the middle of it, but we're moving in the direction we want to be going. Thanks to all of you who are helping and listening to us and bearing with our busy-ness -- as always, we'll keep you posted.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
New Lit Life in the NYT
My profile on Emily Takoudes, a lovely member of the Fort Greene literati, went up on the New York Times' Local blog yesterday. Check it out!
I met Emily back at our bookstore party in September, and it was great to reconnect. I'm grateful to her for connecting me with lots of the other bookish folks in the neighborhood -- and for her enthusiasm about books, food, and Brooklyn.
If you're a Facebooker, you can also check out the group Emily created for Fort Greene / Clinton Hill Publishing. And don't forget to become a fan of Greenlight Bookstore on our page while you're there!
I met Emily back at our bookstore party in September, and it was great to reconnect. I'm grateful to her for connecting me with lots of the other bookish folks in the neighborhood -- and for her enthusiasm about books, food, and Brooklyn.
If you're a Facebooker, you can also check out the group Emily created for Fort Greene / Clinton Hill Publishing. And don't forget to become a fan of Greenlight Bookstore on our page while you're there!
Friday, April 10, 2009
News from Greenlight Bookstore
Hello! Spring is in the air and things, they are a-happening...
______________________
A few months back, we announced that it was a "yellow light for Greenlight" (thanks to our fellow bookseller and friend Kelly for the imagery). We were uncertain whether the state of the economy would allow us to open on the timeline we had hoped, and we weren't finding a retail space that suited our needs, so we put things on hold and laid low for a while.
In the meantime, we were still keeping our minds (and hearts) open to finding the perfect space, and at last it looks like we may have found it. We are currently in lease negotiations for a wonderful space right in the heart of Fort Greene! (We'd love to tell you more - give us a week or two so that we can ensure things are going forward before we reveal our location.) If all goes as we hope, we're looking at a lease beginning in the next month or two, a few months for buildout, and a tentative opening in late summer or early fall.
Of course, this great news means that a lot of other things have to come together VERY quickly: most notably, the money stuff. In order to build, outfit and stock the bookstore right, we still have to raise a certain amount of additional capital. While we don't need to have cash in hand immediately, in order to commit to this venture now, we do need to know that we can count on it coming in (eventually.)
We are working on traditional financing options (SBA loans, small business grants, etc.), but we would like as much of our funding to come from our community as possible. With this in mind, we thought it would be a good time to come back to you, our supporters, about the option of community loans. Some of you (you know who you are) have already committed to loaning money to Greenlight under our Community Lender promissory note terms (detailed below.) We thank you! Acting as a lender to Greenlight Bookstore is an investment in your community, and in the book culture of New York City. Now we're putting out the call to those of you we haven't heard from yet: we can use your help as well.
We know economic times are tough, and that's one of the reasons why we feel putting your money into a community venture like Greenlight Bookstore is one of the best investments you can make. As the loan terms below dictate, this is a transaction a lot like putting your money into a CD: you get it back, with interest, after a certain amount of time. There is a certain risk involved - but given the support for the bookstore project we've already seen in Fort Greene, and our 25 years of experience in the book industry, we feel it's a risk worth taking. We'd love it if we could pay back our loans right into the community (that is, the neighborhood AND our friends and colleagues) that has already supported us in so many other ways.
If you're interested in becoming a community lender, we ask that you reply to us with an expression of interest, any questions you may have, and the approximate amount you're interested in investing. You're naturally not legally obligated until you sign the promissory note, but we ask that you be as certain as possible of your commitment level, so we can estimate the amount of community loans we can factor into our startup capital. It may take us a little time to get back to you as we work to pull all our applications together, but we WILL be in touch, and will work out details and paperwork with you based on your interest.
Thanks again to those of you who have already become Community Lenders to Greenlight Bookstore, and thanks in advance to those of you who can search your hearts (and your pockets) to support this project. Investing in an independent bookstore, and investing in your community, means earning a return on your investment that is more than just financial.
We'll definitely keep you posted on how things are going!
Best,
Jessica and Rebecca
Greenlight Bookstore
__________________
Community Lender Terms
Community Lenders will commit amounts from $1,000 to $10,000 in the form of a loan. (Anything above $10,000 we can discuss both terms and interest rates separately.) Loans will be repaid by Greenlight Bookstore in quarterly installments over a period of five years, beginning one year from the opening date of the bookstore.* Loans will be repaid at an interest rate between 0% and 4%, determined by the lender.** Interest will be compounded annually, and loans will be administered by promissory note. Community Lenders will also earn status as Founding Members of Greenlight Bookstore, with ongoing privileges throughout the life of the store.
* This one-year grace period allows the store to get on its feet during the more challenging first year, and ensures that payments will follow regularly afterward.
* * We offer an adjustable interest rate so that lenders can decide what return rate makes the most sense for both the bookstore and for the sake of their loan.
______________________
A few months back, we announced that it was a "yellow light for Greenlight" (thanks to our fellow bookseller and friend Kelly for the imagery). We were uncertain whether the state of the economy would allow us to open on the timeline we had hoped, and we weren't finding a retail space that suited our needs, so we put things on hold and laid low for a while.
In the meantime, we were still keeping our minds (and hearts) open to finding the perfect space, and at last it looks like we may have found it. We are currently in lease negotiations for a wonderful space right in the heart of Fort Greene! (We'd love to tell you more - give us a week or two so that we can ensure things are going forward before we reveal our location.) If all goes as we hope, we're looking at a lease beginning in the next month or two, a few months for buildout, and a tentative opening in late summer or early fall.
Of course, this great news means that a lot of other things have to come together VERY quickly: most notably, the money stuff. In order to build, outfit and stock the bookstore right, we still have to raise a certain amount of additional capital. While we don't need to have cash in hand immediately, in order to commit to this venture now, we do need to know that we can count on it coming in (eventually.)
We are working on traditional financing options (SBA loans, small business grants, etc.), but we would like as much of our funding to come from our community as possible. With this in mind, we thought it would be a good time to come back to you, our supporters, about the option of community loans. Some of you (you know who you are) have already committed to loaning money to Greenlight under our Community Lender promissory note terms (detailed below.) We thank you! Acting as a lender to Greenlight Bookstore is an investment in your community, and in the book culture of New York City. Now we're putting out the call to those of you we haven't heard from yet: we can use your help as well.
We know economic times are tough, and that's one of the reasons why we feel putting your money into a community venture like Greenlight Bookstore is one of the best investments you can make. As the loan terms below dictate, this is a transaction a lot like putting your money into a CD: you get it back, with interest, after a certain amount of time. There is a certain risk involved - but given the support for the bookstore project we've already seen in Fort Greene, and our 25 years of experience in the book industry, we feel it's a risk worth taking. We'd love it if we could pay back our loans right into the community (that is, the neighborhood AND our friends and colleagues) that has already supported us in so many other ways.
If you're interested in becoming a community lender, we ask that you reply to us with an expression of interest, any questions you may have, and the approximate amount you're interested in investing. You're naturally not legally obligated until you sign the promissory note, but we ask that you be as certain as possible of your commitment level, so we can estimate the amount of community loans we can factor into our startup capital. It may take us a little time to get back to you as we work to pull all our applications together, but we WILL be in touch, and will work out details and paperwork with you based on your interest.
Thanks again to those of you who have already become Community Lenders to Greenlight Bookstore, and thanks in advance to those of you who can search your hearts (and your pockets) to support this project. Investing in an independent bookstore, and investing in your community, means earning a return on your investment that is more than just financial.
We'll definitely keep you posted on how things are going!
Best,
Jessica and Rebecca
Greenlight Bookstore
__________________
Community Lender Terms
Community Lenders will commit amounts from $1,000 to $10,000 in the form of a loan. (Anything above $10,000 we can discuss both terms and interest rates separately.) Loans will be repaid by Greenlight Bookstore in quarterly installments over a period of five years, beginning one year from the opening date of the bookstore.* Loans will be repaid at an interest rate between 0% and 4%, determined by the lender.** Interest will be compounded annually, and loans will be administered by promissory note. Community Lenders will also earn status as Founding Members of Greenlight Bookstore, with ongoing privileges throughout the life of the store.
* This one-year grace period allows the store to get on its feet during the more challenging first year, and ensures that payments will follow regularly afterward.
* * We offer an adjustable interest rate so that lenders can decide what return rate makes the most sense for both the bookstore and for the sake of their loan.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Author Nelson George on his own Fort Greene
Nelson George, author of the forthcoming memoir City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success, has an interesting meditation in today's New York Times on the changing face of Fort Greene.
George moved to the neighborhood in 1985 and views the area as a "crucial black artistic enclave." Like many New Yorkers, he's regretful to see his neighborhood change from the way it was when he first encountered it, and wonders about the changing race and class dynamics of the neighborhood. It's a valuable piece for the portrait of one writer's history in Brooklyn, and as a starting point for thinking about Fort Greene's identity. A conversation about the article and related issues is already underway on Brownstoner; feel free to wade in with your opinions.
I'm following this discussion closely, hoping for additional insights into what I've observed and learned about the neighborhood. To me, Fort Greene seems like a wonderful example of racial co-habitation and community -- it's one of the reasons I love it. But it always hurts when things change around you, and I know that racial tension is probably always a presence in Brooklyn to some degree. I'm curious what Fort Greene's current crop of writers, readers, and artists think.
George moved to the neighborhood in 1985 and views the area as a "crucial black artistic enclave." Like many New Yorkers, he's regretful to see his neighborhood change from the way it was when he first encountered it, and wonders about the changing race and class dynamics of the neighborhood. It's a valuable piece for the portrait of one writer's history in Brooklyn, and as a starting point for thinking about Fort Greene's identity. A conversation about the article and related issues is already underway on Brownstoner; feel free to wade in with your opinions.
I'm following this discussion closely, hoping for additional insights into what I've observed and learned about the neighborhood. To me, Fort Greene seems like a wonderful example of racial co-habitation and community -- it's one of the reasons I love it. But it always hurts when things change around you, and I know that racial tension is probably always a presence in Brooklyn to some degree. I'm curious what Fort Greene's current crop of writers, readers, and artists think.
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