In 2021 we were pushing anti-blockchain arguments.
In 2022 we were pushing solar-powered music and encrypted mesh chat.
We’ve been against LLMs since before ChatGPT came along, and we hope we’re around to dance on its grave.
Iffy Books is the kind of place that feels like it shouldn’t exist in the center of a big city like Philly. How have we kept it going for so long?
- With lots of help from a community of volunteers, donors, and book-buying folks.
- By skating on very thin ice money-wise.
We’ve grown the shop slowly, avoiding big expenses and mostly relying on donated furniture and equipment. We’ve tried to stick to our DIY, anticapitalist ideals even when it doesn’t make business sense. The hope has been that people will be into what we’re doing and support us in the long term.
Iffy Books has been open for four years, now, and helping make it happen has been very fun and satisfying. I’m proud that we’ve grown to serve as many people as we do, and folks really seem to appreciate that we’re here.
We’re still breaking even financially, however. We make enough from books and kits to pay for rent and expenses at the shop, but that’s it. Nobody’s getting paid.
The ice has been thin for a long time, and for me it’s finally broken through. I’ve been living on former retirement money for the past year and a half, and I’m pretty much completely out of resources. I don’t know if I’ll have enough to cover rent for July at the apartment I share with my 6-year-old. It’s painful to say it, but that’s where I’m at.
Also, our lease at Iffy Books ends in November. Which means we have until the end of August to decide whether or not to renew.
If you appreciate what we’re doing at Iffy Books and you want us to stick around, now is your moment to help. If you have the money to spare, you can make a recurring donation through Patreon (https://patreon.com/iffybooks). If you’re already a Patreon supporter, consider jumping to the next tier. You can also make a one-time donation through Venmo (@iffybooks).
If enough people are willing to chip in, it may be possible for the shop to continue in its current form. This is plan A. In this scenario, we’d use money from Patreon to pay me, Mattie, and other helpers an hourly wage so we can cover our personal bills. We’d need 200–300 Patreon supporters to make it work, which may or may not be possible.
The next option is for me to take a part-time job to pay my own bills, and do my best to keep the shop running. We’d end up with shorter hours and fewer events, which may make it tough to cover rent at the shop. But volunteers can keep running their events, and we’ll make the best of it.
The third option is to close the shop when our lease ends in November. On the plus side, we can all remember Iffy Books as a beautiful thing that never got corrupted. And I can get a day job with benefits (which I really don’t want to do, but stability has its appeal). The party would be over though.
What do y’all want to do?
—
Steve McLaughlin
Iffy Books
404 S. 20th St., PHL
https://iffybooks.net