"Wimpy Kid" author's Massachusetts bookstore loses 6 figures a year. He still has big plans for downtown.
PLAINVILLE - "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" author Jeff Kinney says he wants to make his community proud and is plowing ahead with big plans to revitalize the downtown area of Plainville, Massachusetts, even as he shares the harsh financial realities of owning a bookstore.
Kinney recently appeared on a podcast episode of Freakonomics Radio that looks at the challenging retail landscape in America. In 2015, he opened An Unlikely Story in Plainville, where he lives with his family.
"The bookstore is not profitable"
The podcast noted that the bookstore, cafe and event space has been "absurdly successful" in terms of attracting big-name authors on the book tour circuit. But that hasn't translated into a profit for An Unlikely Story.
"The bookstore is not profitable. We lose quite a bit of money each year, in the six figures. There are lots of different reasons for that," Kinney said. "We do try to pay fairly, but we also give a lot of our employees health care, things like that."
But Kinney, who has sold more than 290 million "Wimpy Kid" books since 2007 and just released the 19th book of the series, made it clear that he's still determined to revamp downtown Plainville. The bookstore was once a "derelict" building before Kinney fixed it up, and he's been buying other nearby properties with the goal of turning four depressed city blocks into a thriving town center.
Jeff Kinney's plan for downtown Plainville
"This is an ambitious plan, maybe a foolish plan, but also really an exciting plan," Kinney said on the podcast.
The Plainville Square website set up by Kinney envisions an anchor restaurant, retail space, and a common green space for outdoor performances and food trucks. He estimates the project will cost between $17 million and $35 million, but said he hopes it could change the town "for generations to come."
"I think people respect what we do with our money. We're doing something a little bit unusual, investing in the town, and infrastructure of the town," Kinney said.
