// Stanfords launches online crowdfunding scheme to avoid closure
// The travel and map bookshop aims to raise £120,000 to help it to survive until spring 2021
// Footfall at the independent retailer has dropped during the Covid-19 pandemic
Stanfords has launched a crowdfunding project in response to the Covid-19 crisis as the heritage retailer fights to stave off permanent closure.
The travel and map bookshop in central London, which was established in 1853, launched an online scheme with an array of rewards available for donations from £5 to £5000 – ranging from a cup of coffee to personalised maps, books and tours of its map archive.
Its goal is to raise £120,000 to help it to survive until spring 2021, when it hopes London will have recovered and people are able to travel more freely, The Guardian reported.
READ MORE:
- How high street book retailers continue to dominate ebooks
- Books to be quarantined if touched but not bought, Waterstones says
Chief executive Vivien Godfrey said that the amount will allow it to continue to pay the rent, taxes, wages and the extra costs incurred in making the store Covid-secure.
Stanfords founder Edward Stanford started out as a map-maker, becoming the official cartographer to the Queen before expanding into retail and going on to create and provide maps to the likes of Florence Nightingale, Ernest Shackleton, and Amy Johnson.
Footfall at the heritage retailer has dropped during the pandemic, with a 75 per cent decline in sales, and a 15 per cent drop in online sales due to restrictions on global travel.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
