Help Save Wide World Books & Maps
Donation protected
Hello from Wide World Books & Maps, a bookstore specializing in travel books, maps, and accessories. Founded in 1976, we’re the oldest travel bookstore in the country; over the past 40 years we’ve hosted hundreds of authors, travel experts, and tour guides who have educated and entertained our customers with their travel expertise and stories. In the past few months, for example, we’ve enjoyed talks on Colombia, Ethiopia, Italy, Thailand, Iran, and Patagonia. For several years, we’ve hosted our Saturday morning solo traveler and gutsy women travel groups; these popular meetings have helped inform and inspire travelers, who gather to share their travel tales and support one another’s travel dreams.
Our store is full of travel guides, wall and folding maps, and hundreds of travel accessories. In addition to being a wonderful gathering place for customers, the well-traveled store staff are a great resource for those with travel questions and concerns, providing the type of personalized service that is obviously not available to on-line shoppers.
We’ve been impacted by the recession and have been struggling to come out of that slump, as well as being hit hard by that big on-line book (and now everything else) store, which seems to be intent on putting independent bookstores out of business. In the process, the loss to the community as a whole is huge; a virtual store is not a place for friends to gather, share, and learn.
As the owner for the past 7 years, I’ve been wearing two hats, managing the store and working full-time in another position. This has been personally difficult, and it’s likely that the store has suffered from not receiving my full, undivided attention. Going forward my sole focus will be on the store – I love the store and want it to stay open, especially now that I’ve realized how many other people love the store as well. It’s a new beginning and I believe that together we can do this.
We would love to continue to provide the valuable personalized service that we have for so many years, and to help you plan and prepare for your next trip. In order to do so, we need your help: we’d love to build the inventory back to the quality and variety of former years, bring in the latest and best travel gadgets, and continue to host our wonderful authors and presenters.
We know that times are changing and bookstores likely cannot totally compete with online marketing. Therefore we want to do what we can to increase our activities as a community gathering place, and allow the store to continue to be a place for residents of Wallingford and surrounding areas to visit before that last minute business trip or vacation and get the information and supplies they need.
With your donations, we’ll be able to pay off some back bills and restore missing travel items and titles to our shelves. While there are no guarantees the store will be able survive another 40 or even 4 years, re-establishing our former levels of inventory will greatly increase our chances. We also have several ideas for offering additional services, such as a travel agency/consulting service, and for bringing in additional travel brands and items to help turn the store around and keep us from returning to the position we’re currently in. Advertising campaigns, to attract both old and new customers, as well as updating and expanding our website, should also help.
Our goal is to raise $30,000 by April 15th through this site, which is what is needed to keep the store open. When we reach our $30,000 goal, Rick Steves’ Europe, one of our major supporters, has generously donated ten 7-day tours to Istanbul, London, Paris, or Rome, which would raise an additional $20,000 for the store. However, his donation is contingent on us raising $30,000 through this campaign, which means your $30,000 donation will actually result in a $50,000 donation to the store! If we don’t reach our goal, 100% of the money will be returned to each donor, at absolutely no cost.
Several awards are available for donors, depending on the amount of your gift. New awards will be added over the next few weeks, so please check back for new selections. All donors will be listed in a "We Helped Save Wide World Books & Maps" book in the store and will receive a WIde World Travel Store thank you card and 10% off coupon good towards their next purchase.
We hope you will join us in this effort to save Wide World Books! Together we can keep the oldest travel bookstore in the country – and important community resource for travel advice, presentations, and support groups -- open. Our goal is to provide a great selection of books and gifts for travelers and non-travelers alike, and to continue to help you achieve your travel dreams.
Thank you from Wide World Books & Maps!
Our store is full of travel guides, wall and folding maps, and hundreds of travel accessories. In addition to being a wonderful gathering place for customers, the well-traveled store staff are a great resource for those with travel questions and concerns, providing the type of personalized service that is obviously not available to on-line shoppers.
We’ve been impacted by the recession and have been struggling to come out of that slump, as well as being hit hard by that big on-line book (and now everything else) store, which seems to be intent on putting independent bookstores out of business. In the process, the loss to the community as a whole is huge; a virtual store is not a place for friends to gather, share, and learn.
As the owner for the past 7 years, I’ve been wearing two hats, managing the store and working full-time in another position. This has been personally difficult, and it’s likely that the store has suffered from not receiving my full, undivided attention. Going forward my sole focus will be on the store – I love the store and want it to stay open, especially now that I’ve realized how many other people love the store as well. It’s a new beginning and I believe that together we can do this.
We would love to continue to provide the valuable personalized service that we have for so many years, and to help you plan and prepare for your next trip. In order to do so, we need your help: we’d love to build the inventory back to the quality and variety of former years, bring in the latest and best travel gadgets, and continue to host our wonderful authors and presenters.
We know that times are changing and bookstores likely cannot totally compete with online marketing. Therefore we want to do what we can to increase our activities as a community gathering place, and allow the store to continue to be a place for residents of Wallingford and surrounding areas to visit before that last minute business trip or vacation and get the information and supplies they need.
With your donations, we’ll be able to pay off some back bills and restore missing travel items and titles to our shelves. While there are no guarantees the store will be able survive another 40 or even 4 years, re-establishing our former levels of inventory will greatly increase our chances. We also have several ideas for offering additional services, such as a travel agency/consulting service, and for bringing in additional travel brands and items to help turn the store around and keep us from returning to the position we’re currently in. Advertising campaigns, to attract both old and new customers, as well as updating and expanding our website, should also help.
Our goal is to raise $30,000 by April 15th through this site, which is what is needed to keep the store open. When we reach our $30,000 goal, Rick Steves’ Europe, one of our major supporters, has generously donated ten 7-day tours to Istanbul, London, Paris, or Rome, which would raise an additional $20,000 for the store. However, his donation is contingent on us raising $30,000 through this campaign, which means your $30,000 donation will actually result in a $50,000 donation to the store! If we don’t reach our goal, 100% of the money will be returned to each donor, at absolutely no cost.
Several awards are available for donors, depending on the amount of your gift. New awards will be added over the next few weeks, so please check back for new selections. All donors will be listed in a "We Helped Save Wide World Books & Maps" book in the store and will receive a WIde World Travel Store thank you card and 10% off coupon good towards their next purchase.
We hope you will join us in this effort to save Wide World Books! Together we can keep the oldest travel bookstore in the country – and important community resource for travel advice, presentations, and support groups -- open. Our goal is to provide a great selection of books and gifts for travelers and non-travelers alike, and to continue to help you achieve your travel dreams.
Thank you from Wide World Books & Maps!
Organizer
Julie Hunt
Organizer
Seattle, WA
