Ida’s Bookshop has the ultimate rent party, raising $23,000 in five days

When Jeannine A. Cook’s landlord raised the rent for Ida’s Bookshop, the intrepid entrepreneur started a GoFundMe and, within five days, raised $23,000, enough to pay the rent at her Haddon Avenue location in Collingswood through the end of 2024.

“The community raised it,” said Cook, whose Ida’s location is named after journalist Ida B. Wells. “I’m so grateful. It’s very hard to be creative and innovative when your head is barely above water.”

Cook, also the owner of Harriett’s Bookshop in Fishtown, treats bookselling as a form of resistance and self-care. Her bookshops are safe spaces for writers and activists to commune and create. In addition to Harriett’s and Ida’s, she’s created installations in honor of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker, and last year her Paris installation, Josephine’s — named after dancer and civil rights activist Josephine Baker — drew international attention.

While Cook, 40, has made a name for herself in literary circles worldwide, the rising cost of real estate, marketing, and event planning has made it hard for her to stay afloat. “Small businesses face an uphill battle against corporate giants and million-dollar developers,” she wrote in an on-line pamphlet requesting the community’s support. “The struggle for survival and growth is not just economic, but also a fight to preserve the uniqueness and character of local communities.”

Owners of businesses in Collingswood and neighboring towns have sustained higher than average rent increases as of late, explained Pip Haxby-Thompson, who sits on sits on the board of Haddon Township Equity Initiative, a non-profit that supports marginalized businesses and people who live in South Jersey and South Jersey realtor.

“We recognized [if Ida’s moved] it wouldn’t just be a big loss to the community,” said Isis Williams, HTEI’s board president. “It would support where the world is right now, that people have moved on since COVID. It’s the responsibility of the community not just to march and celebrate [MLK Day], but to show up when the businesses needs help.”

With the money, Cook says she’s now free to “strategize and plan a sustained future for Ida’s Bookshop within Collingswood without the additional stressors of making ends meet from month-to-month... Our overall goal is to purchase a building in Collingswood and stick around for generations.”

Cook said she had faith in her community but she was surprised she raised the needed funds so fast. The GoFundMe went live on Sunday, Jan. 14 and by Wednesday there were 342 donations, totaling $23,800. Donations ranged from $15 to more than $4,000.

“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for what we’ve done TOGETHER and what we will continue to do together,” she wrote in her Instagram post.