Like most businesses in Massachusetts, when the COVID lockdown hit, World Eye Bookshop was forced to close its doors for a couple of months (from March 24 to May 18, 2020). When the lockdown was lifted and we were again able to offer in-store service, it soon became clear that around 40% of our customers did not return when the doors reopened.

This forced the decision by the then owner to close the store, a decision she announced to staff in August 2020. Not wanting to see this happen, I took over the store with the hope that once COVID restrictions were lifted and the pandemic eventually became endemic, at least some of the people who had stopped shopping here during lockdown would return and sales would recover.

Unfortunately, that hoped-for and needed return of customers never materialized. Having already suffered a 50% decline in sales over the previous decade (2010-2019), mostly due to consumers moving online, losing 40% of those who remained means we are now trying to keep the doors open with only 30% of the revenue we were seeing in 2010. This is simply not sustainable.

The customers who have continued to support small local businesses are great! Thank you!

For us, the average sale is fine, but there are far fewer customers and sales overall, and we can’t afford to sink any further. If readers could encourage the people they know to shop locally, it would be a huge help. The small actions of individuals can add up and have powerful results.

If you haven’t shopped with us or other small Greenfield businesses for a while, or are one of those who has turned to shopping online since COVID hit, please consider shopping locally again. For businesses of our size, the threshold of viability is small, and thus relatively easy to attain! For example, we have more than 2,900 Facebook followers — if that many people purchased just four new books each year from us, we would be sustainable.

If you do not live in the Greenfield area, or prefer shopping online but would still like to help, there is a website called bookshop.org where you can order books instead of using Amazon. Under the “Choose a Bookstore” feature you can select World Eye Bookshop as the store you want to support, and a portion of your purchase dollars will come to us. It’s less than if we sold the book ourselves, but every bit helps, and it’s better than sending your money to Amazon! You can also support other local bookstores on that site.

Your shopping decisions shape the community you live in.

Shopping online has local consequences. Wilson’s closed in 2020 after 138 years; Baker Office Supply just closed after nearly 90 years.

World Eye Bookshop has been a Greenfield fixture since 1969, but we cannot stay in operation if some of the customers who took their business online during the last three years do not return, or some new customers don’t turn up. As businesses around us close, people ask me, “What can I do?”

My answer is simple and the action, if taken, is effective: Spend money in town.

Online purchases send your money out of town and damage your local economy. Online purchases are bad for the environment due to the extra packaging and trucks on the road that online shopping generates. Your grassroots movement is the dollar in your pocket.

I spoke with one person who was concerned about business closings and empty storefronts in Greenfield who suggested we have a grassroots meeting upstairs at the co-op to come up with ideas to keep businesses open. I asked that person whether they had purchased anything at any of the businesses they were concerned about in the last three months. They admitted they had not.

My response was, “Your grassroots movement is the dollar in your pocket.”

If enough people buy locally, existing businesses will survive and thrive. If people don’t spend money locally, then before long our Main Street will be empty and your only shopping options (non-grocery/pharmacy) will be to drive out of town or to order online. Maybe that result is inevitable, but I hope not. And judging by the number of people I’ve heard lamenting the loss of Greenfield businesses, I am not alone.

If you want local businesses to survive, shop locally and get your friends and family to do the same!

Tim Ballou is the owner of World Eye Bookshop in Greenfield.

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