Wordsmiths Books closes doors

A Decatur bookstore that asked for donations to stay afloat last August closed its doors on Monday.

Wordsmiths Books couldn’t overcome the consumer malaise that has brought down retailers big and small.

Storeowner Zachary Steele sent an e-mail Monday morning to customers saying “the sheer magnitude of the decline in sales alone” had left him with no more pages to turn.

“The biggest thing was the drop in the economy,” he said in an interview. “When your sales are dropping 40 to 50 percent and leaves you with less cash to work with, there’s nothing left.”

He said sales had improved in September after his appeal for donations, but by early October, the bottom fell out.

“Everything started drying up. The whole Christmas season was horrible,” Steele, 36, said.

The closing was sad for businesses and book lovers in Decatur, said Mayor Bill Floyd. “I thought it was a good concept, but I think he just got into too big a hole to get out of it,” Floyd said. He hopes another bookstore would fill the Wordsmiths storefront on Decatur Square or elsewhere downtown.

Wordsmiths’ closing leaves Decatur with three independent book shops: Books Again, Indie Coffee & Books and Little Shop of Stories.

Steele stirred up both sympathy and controversy in August by asking for donations to keep his store open. Some donated while others thought the market should determine whether a for-profit store should stay open. In the end, the market prevailed.

Steele said he understood the debate. He believes he made the best decision at the time, without knowing of the impending upheaval in the financial markets.

“I decided it wasn’t going to hurt to ask for help. People could just say no,” he said.

As for repaying donors, he said that was part of the long-term plan, but it wouldn’t have made sense in the short term, as he was raising money in part to pay debts. He didn’t have a tally of how many donations came in. He said the biggest boost came from book sales.

Part of his trouble stemmed from having opened in a former post office space that proved too large. Steele moved to the square to get more foot traffic but debt on the store continued to grow. In all, his business was open for just under two years. He said he was personally invested in the business, but didn’t want to give additional details.

In an August interview, Steele admitted he dreamed big and that “reality can be harsh.” Reality is harsh even for big box stores: Borders recently cut 12 percent of its corporate work force. Other retailers like Cost Plus World Market are closing unprofitable stores while still others like Circuit City are in liquidation.

When asked what he would do next, Steele said he’s written a book, “Annointed,” that is a satire of the business of religion, “making the point that the dollar has gotten far more important than the Word itself.”

He said he’ll use this time to promote the book, and of course, look for a job.