The July 16 issue of Wednesday Journal reports that, next summer, Barnes & Noble plans to open a bookstore and café in two levels of the old Marshall Field building. The article quotes the new assistant village manager for economic vitality, John Melaniphy, stating that the village might need to financially help the building owner pay for the renovation costs.
Of course, tenants are very much needed in that long-vacant building. However, Barnes & Noble is a publicly traded company, whose shares of stock are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol BNED). On July 22, the market value of Barnes & Noble’s stock was approximately $302 million.
The village should not provide even indirect financial help to a $302 million company, particularly one such as Barnes & Noble, which is reportedly salivating at the prospect of doing business here.
Providing such help to Barnes & Noble would be especially egregious because Barnes & Noble will be competing against the four small, independent bookstores that recently opened or will soon open in Oak Park: Dandelion Bookshop (139 S. Oak Park Ave.), The Book Loft (1047 Lake St.), Mission Curiosity Bookshop (319 Madison St.), and AfriWare Books (a mobile bookshop, by appointment).
Giving taxpayer dollars to private enterprises is sometimes necessary to spur economic development. However, the village should wisely spend that money on small independents who might really need and greatly benefit from the help. We should not dole out our money to benefit publicly traded, wealthy behemoths, for whom our public funds are actually pennies on the dollar, and who, unlike small independents, can readily raise all the necessary cash through bank loans, selling bonds, or issuing more shares of stock.
Susan Messer & Jim Poznak
Oak Park