October 10, 2012

Tennessee student opens bookstore to pay for college

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Tennessee student Trent Crowthers has opened a bookstore to fund his college tuition.

Alabama TV station WTVY reported this week that a teenager in Tennessee has opened a used bookstore in his hometown in order to help pay for his college tuition. Trent Crowthers, 17, explains that, faced with the prospect of paying for school, he tried to find ways to bring in money and eventually decided to follow in his father’s footsteps by opening a bookstore.

The shop is a fairly small operation — Crowthers started with a $600 investment from his parents, which he used to buy books from eBay, and just one side of the Antique Barn in Nolensville, TN. By now he’s expanded to use the barn’s full space, which is lined with shelves, tables, and racks overflowing with books. And, he points out, “This is just a teeny amount compared to all the books we have.”

It’s not clear from the WTVY piece whether the store even has a name; it just has a neon sign in one window that reads “Books,” but with low prices — $3 for paperbacks and $4 for hardcovers for the most part — Crowthers is hoping to slowly but surely save up the money to pay for tuition at one of his top choices for schools, Ohio State University or Georgia State University. And once he leaves for school, he plans to leave the store to his younger brother, so that he can keep it up and save up money for his own college fund.

 

 

Nick Davies is a publicist at Melville House.

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