Longfellow Books in Portland, ME

While last weekend’s snowstorm wasn’t quite the apocalyptic event we were expecting here in New York, it did wreak some havoc further north in New England. Longfellow Books in Portland, Maine suffered a lot of damage, and the Portland Press Herald has been following the story all week.

On Sunday, the local paper reported that Longfellow, one of the last remaining independent bookstores in Maine, incurred serious water damage during the storm, when a frozen water line burst, and a window broke, letting the snow blow into the store. Co-owner Chris Bowe expressed gratitude for the firefighters’ quick work saving books from the water pouring into the store: “There were maybe 20 of them, and they were amazing. Instead of standing around and letting the water fall, they were carrying books to safety. I couldn’t believe how fast they worked to save the books. They saved an enormous amount of stock.” Unfortunately, they couldn’t protect every copy, and Bowe estimates that 40-50% of Longfellow’s 30,000 books were damaged.

If there’s a bright side to the story, it’s that the store has received a groundswell of support from the community. The Press Herald reported on Monday that Joshua Bodwell, executive director of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, has been fielding a flood of questions from people looking to lend a helping hand. “Everybody is asking what they can do. At this point, I think the best thing to do to help is to do what your instinct tells you to do: Go there and buy books,” he said, adding that Longfellow is “the complete personification of the importance of independent bookstores. If you want a book, that’s the place to go to get it.”

Bowe agrees with Bodwell that the best thing people can do is support the store to buy books, and said he was impressed with the loyalty that Portland residents have demonstrated to his store. He told the Press Herald, “I never realized what this store means to people until this weekend. Ultimately, we’re a retail store. You can get our products anywhere. But people seem to love our store.”

Meanwhile, he has vowed not to shave until he can reopen the store — though don’t expect a Rip van Winkle-style transformation, because he’s also pledged to open the doors by Thursday, in time for a community fundraiser. He also said that his staff would be working full shifts on Tuesday, removing books that were damaged; and the store will donate books that are salvageable but unlikely to sell to libraries or other organizations.

Local author Cynthia Thayer, for whom Longfellow held a fundraiser when she and her husband lost a barn and livestock to a fire, says she felt compelled to return the kindness as soon as she heard about the damage from the storm: “They were incredible to us. They helped us raise several thousand dollars. It’s almost hard to believe that things can be done quickly and amazingly well if a bunch of people get behind it. We certainly saw it, and I think the bookstore will see it as well.”

If you feel compelled to give your support to Longfellow but can’t make it up to Maine, they are accepting book orders online and by phone, per their Facebook page, where you can also keep up with updates on their progress.