Supporters of Webster’s Bookstore Cafe pledged Tuesday to pursue letter-writing and petition campaigns to advocate for the troubled State College icon.
Well more than 50 people gathered for a quickly called community meeting Tuesday evening at the store, 128 S. Allen St. Co-owner Elaine Meder-Wilgus began telling customers Monday that her lease faces almost-certain termination by July 31.
She went into more detail at the community meeting, a grassroots effort let by the store’s customers. Meder-Wilgus said she began to fall behind on her rent about two years ago and had been making steady payments ‘to get back on track.’
But she suffered another financial setback last month, when she had to replace a major air-conditioning unit for the 11-year-old store, she said.
Meder-Wilgus said she received word of her lease termination via e-mail late Thursday, after the local Kresge family, which controls the building, decided to give her 30 days to vacate the space.
Scott Kresge told StateCollege.com via e-mail that it would be inappropriate for him to comment publicly on a private matter. Meder-Wilgus reiterated Thursday evening that she does not want the Kresge family to be vilified or cast as the enemy, calling the Kresges ‘very, very decent people.’
‘They have not been unreasonable — except for the 30-day thing,’ she said at the community meeting, referring to her deadline to vacate.
Meder-Wilgus said she does not know if the Kresges have another planned use for the building or if they would be willing to extend her lease. She said that she had already been working to refinance and consolidate Webster’s debt, an effort that would pay the back rent. But Scott Kresge has declined an offer that would have settled that obligation, she said.
‘Let’s face it: I don’t run this business because I want to drive around in a big, fancy car or go away for a month,’ Meder-Wilgus said. ‘I do it because I love this community. I love the employees.’
Locals at the Tuesday meeting offered a variety of ideas to help the business survive and thrive. Some considered building a nonprofit community foundation that might help Meder-Wilgus through financially low points.
Borough Council member Peter Morris isn’t sure what the council might do to help, but he plans to make a ‘pro-Webster’s’ speech at the Monday council meeting, he said.
He also said Mayor Elizabeth Goreham, who called Morris during the meeting, has voiced her position as ‘a Webster’s lover.’
The late Mayor Bill Welch, who died in September after an illness, was a Webster’s regular, as well, Meder-Wilgus said.
A petition encouraging the Kresge family to help Webster’s remain open had collected at least 90 signatures by early Tuesday evening. Its organizer, borough resident Art Goldschmidt, said volunteers with the National Organization for Women and the local Democratic party will keep the petition visible throughout the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.
The festival, which stretches from the borough and onto the University Park campus, begins with Children and Youth Day today and will run through Sunday.
Meder-Wilgus said she could use additional input from people with financial and real-estate expertise. She said Webster’s on Allen Street generates some 80 percent of the revenue for her overall enterprise, which includes a secondary cafe location on West Aaron Drive, a catering business and an online book-selling operation.
If the Allen Street location is forced to close, Meder-Wilgus said, it might be replaced by a smaller downtown cafe in a new location and a separate, larger-scale retail book store toward the suburbs.
That’s just one possibility she’s been mulling tentatively, she said.
Meanwhile, a number of supporters said they would write upbeat letters of support for local publication. Letters also may be posted in the store, shared with the Kresge family and delivered to banks that may assist Webster’s with future financing.
By Wednesday morning, a ‘Solidarity for Webster’s’ Facebook group had grown to include more than 850 members.
‘The business of downtown State College is definitely being fed by Webster’s,’ said borough resident Carol Gold. ‘People see it as a reason for coming downtown because they feel good here. A lot of people are feeling this. … It has become a community center. It’s the closest thing to a community center we have.’
Her husband, Dick Gold, goes to Webster’s in part to be educated, he said. The store is friendly to activist causes and is a frequent meeting place for Penn State faculty members and their students.
‘You learn to respect differences here,’ Dick Gold said.
StateCollege.com will continue to cover this emerging issue as it develops. Another community meeting about Webster’s is scheduled for 7 p.m. today at Irving’s, 110 E. College Ave.
Earlier coverage: Webster’s Faces Financial Difficulty, Likely Closure
