A beloved bookstore reported a theft. Then the community stepped up to help.

Lesley Cosme Torres, Tampa Bay Times
Updated ·2 min read

When Michelle Jenquin got to work on May 18, she noticed something wasn’t right. She just couldn’t figure out what.

Jenquin is the owner of Wilson’s Book World, a family-run bookstore founded in 1971. The store, at 535 16th St. N. in St. Petersburg, is a Tampa Bay staple that has over 100,000 used books, some of which date back to the late 1800s.

A few minutes later, it dawned on her: Her air conditioning unit was gone.

“I was in complete, utter shock,” Jenquin said. “How did this happen?

Ken Knight, a spokesperson with the St. Petersburg Police Department, said the AC unit was stolen sometime the night before. No arrests have been made, and the case is under investigation.

After Jenquin closed the store temporarily and assessed the damages, she learned that her insurance would not cover an AC unit. For Wilson’s, the cost to replace it would be devastating.

“I’m a small business,” she said. “I’m not Publix. I’m not Walmart. I’m not able to keep up.”

Her first step was to find a way to make sure the books were OK.

In 90-degree Florida heat, that wasn’t an easy task. Jenquin ran as many fans as she could throughout the store. Books are very sensitive to heat, according to the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts. High temperatures can speed up their rate of deterioration.

After a phone call with her best friend, Jenquin decided to create a GoFundMe campaign to try to raise money for the replacement.

“I was very apprehensive, I really didn’t want to at first,” she said.

But she was shocked when her GoFundMe met her $10,000 goal in less than four days.

“Nobody gets in the books business to make millions and get rich. It’s for the love of books, knowledge and reading,” she said.

Over 200 people donated to Jenquin’s GoFundMe, and some even came by the store to give her a check. She says the money will go to the new AC, a cage to go around the unit and a couple of security cameras outside.

“Everything the community has donated has gone directly back into the bookstore,” Jenquin said. “Back into making sure that we can stay here. To make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

Jenquin said she’ll leave the GoFundMe up until the end of the month in case anyone else wants to donate. In addition to the new AC and security cameras, she wants to put up new signs and make other changes to the store.

In the meantime, Wilson’s reopened to customers on Friday.

“We have the greatest support from the community,” Jenquin said. “I can’t say thank you enough.”