Bulletin E-Edition:
more photosKilns Bookstore co-founder Kim Hunt stands in the new nonprofit business in Bend on Monday. Along with books, the store will sell clothing and other goods from international businesses founded by several area nonprofits.
Andy Tullis / The Bulletin
New bookstore opens; profit not required
Kilns Bookstore will put money it makes back into store and charities
By David Jasper / The Bulletin
Published: July 05. 2008 4:00AM PSTKilns Bookstore, a new addition to Central Oregon’s bookseller ranks, will open its doors in the Old Mill Marketplace in Bend today. The opening comes just more than a month after The Book Barn, a 35-year-old shop in nearby downtown, closed due to declining sales and stiff competition from online retailers such as Amazon.
However, to Kilns founders Kim Hunt, 30, and Ken Wytsma, 35, selling books in these dubious economic times makes plenty of sense.
Kilns is a nonprofit bookstore, no double-entendre intended. It will be run entirely by volunteers, and the money will go right back into the store and toward the causes it supports.
“Nobody takes a profit on it, so we’re not driven by the same market forces as, say, Barnes & Noble,” Wytsma says. “So we can get a more eclectic mix of books.”
In its books section, the shop will feature mostly historical, philosophical and human rights tomes, along with some poetry and classic fiction chosen at its founders’ discretion. “With the books, we’ll sell them at a discount, “and we’ll take a little bit to cover costs,” says Wytsma. “Outside of that, nobody gets a paycheck, nobody makes money.”
“We thought it’d be cool to have a place where, if you’re interested in human rights issues and things around the world, you could get a multitude of books like that,” says Hunt. She is the vice president of Kilns College, a nonprofit school associated with the bookstore that will train people for mission work. It aims to open in September, but a location has yet to be found.
The idea for the bookstore came about after Wytsma and Hunt visited Africa twice last year to do humanitarian work.
“We realized in going over that one of the best things we can do for people is help them out in their livelihood,” says Wytsma, who, in his day job, works at Antioch Church, which sent them on the trip.
“When we went over there, we felt that was the best way to go,” adds Hunt. “Help them help themselves, and not just give them money, by having them not only work independently and to help their families, but also help them within their communities.”
For most people living in Central Oregon, “there just aren’t a lot of tangible ways for people to get involved and make a difference in the world,” Wytsma says. “One of the biggest ways for people to make a difference in this community is with our consumer dollars.”
To that end, Kilns will serve as a bridge for those who want to support sustainable businesses run by people in developing countries.
In addition to books, the shop will feature clothing and other goods pro- duced through nonprofits such as Amani ya Juu and Bend-based Ransom Wear.
Ransom Wear trains Nepalese women freed from the sex trade in India, and Amani ya Juu is a sewing, marketing and training project for marginalized women in Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi.
“By being able to create a place where we can sell these things, we’re helping those women as well as making it something that the community as a whole can get involved in,” Wytsma says.
Another nonprofit they’re working with is Kashmir Family Aid, which assists children affected by the 2005 earthquake in the Kashmir region. “We’re going to be selling their rugs and some scarves and bags made by the orphans that they’re working with out there,” Hunt says.
Kilns also will sell coffee from Cauzal Coffee, of Sisters, which gives 25 percent of its sales to nonprofits working to end global hunger, human trafficking, AIDS and unclean water.
World Relief Burundi, which provides disaster and emergency relief and is involved in community and economic development, will have an office on the second floor of Kilns. Tambry Brose and her husband, Dan, both of Bend, started World Relief four years ago after living in Africa for six years: three in Rwanda, three in Burundi.
As with other nonprofits associated with Kilns, World Relief believes in sustainable development.
“We don’t just go in there and say, ‘This is the way you should do it,’ and set up programs for them and leave,” says Tambry Brose. “We train the people on the ground, because you have to train the people who live there, so when we leave, it carries on.”
Helping people in developing nations build businesses, Wytsma says, “leaves them with dignity but also works against creating a dependency mind-set, where it’s just kind of a welfare handout. They’re already doing things; they just need help selling this stuff.
“That’s why, if we spend smart, use our consumer dollars to do good, not just get ourselves what we want or need, then we can accomplish the two things at once.”
In addition to Kilns’ other offerings, art will hang on the walls, and there will be tables and free Wi-Fi to encourage people to use the shop as a destination location. Alas, there won’t be food for sale, as that requires different permits, the founders explained. Kilns will host art shows and live music by bands that are interested in donating their time for good causes.
“This is a place where we want to do good, and it’s not a place to make a profit,” says Wytsma. “It’s just all about having a place in town where people can come and know that they’re spending their money to do good.”
David Jasper can be reached at 541-383-0349 or djasper@bendbulletin.com.
ARTICLE ACCESS: This article is among those available to all readers. Many more articles are available only to E-Edition members. Sign up today!
comments powered by Disqus
