A bookstore owner and his partner have received help from the most unlikely source, the couple’s competition, after the man was hospitalized and unable to continue working.
Amid a shift to electronic readers and online book sources, traditional bookstore owners are facing a great threat all over the world.
On top of struggling to retain their customers and keep their business going, one couple from San Diego faced an additional problem that nearly put an end to their bookstore.
Seth Marko and Jennifer Powell, proud owners of an independent bookstore called the Book Catapult, were losing all hope after Seth got hospitalized and required open-heart surgery.
While Jennifer was able to convince her friends to take care of their 3-year-old daughter while the pair was in the hospital, the bookstore’s situation was looking grim.
“I honestly wasn’t really thinking about the store,” Seth admitted. “I just assumed that it would be closed, I guess, until further notice. I didn’t know how we would handle it. … It would have been pretty rough.”
Fortunately, however, the couple’s competition, Scott Ehrig-Burgess and his partner, agreed not only to look after their friends’ daughter but also to manage their store for a week.
Soon after their generous move, other independent bookstore owners rallied to support their fellow tradesman.
“People were like, ‘What can I do to help? Do you need somebody to be in the store?’” Scott explained.
“I called four booksellers and had four volunteers … Once I started to tell our book-selling friends what was going on, I had an entire roster.”
Additionally, Warwick’s aided Seth, their former bookseller, and shared the man’s story along with a fundraiser for the couple.
“Several of our customers may remember our wonderful former bookseller and book buyer, Seth Marko.
The story below will let you know what he has been going through recently. We are all pulling for him, his health, his family, and keeping his bookstore going. There is a GoFundMe page for him here… https://www.
gofundme.com/catapult-seth-to-recovery” they wrote on Facebook.
What are your thoughts on this generous move? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to SHARE this inspiring post with your friends and family!
Recommended Video – “Nurses at a Hospital Witnessed a Mom Playing Piano for her Terminally Ill Son, and it was Beautiful”