Ruminator to Get One-Month Extension

As BTW went to press, it appears that Ruminator Books' major creditor, Macalester College, will be giving the St. Paul, Minnesota, bookstore one more month to raise $500,000 of the more than $1 million it owes the college. The extension of the deadline for Ruminator's closing to the end of February comes as a result of the store's receiving an undisclosed amount of financial support from an anonymous investor.

David Unowsky, owner of Ruminator Books with his wife, Pearl Kilbride, told BTW that the agreement with Macalester was verbal, but that he would be getting the official paperwork within the next couple of hours.

Unowsky said that, with the Macalester deadline extended, he could extend another, self-imposed, deadline. Unowsky explained, "We have an internal deadline. If we believe we're going forward, then we'll go forward. If we don't, then we'll stop now, or all we'll do is amass more debts. We've already got one deadline extended, so to extend the [internal deadline] is not a problem."

The store is also raising funds through the sale of stock to Minnesota residents at $1 a share with a minimum purchase of $250 a share. (For more on the stock offering, click here.)

Ruminator recently applied for a low-interest loan of $100,000 from the city of St. Paul's Housing and Redevelopment Authority, but Unowsky said the store had put the application on hold as it worked out the deal with its new investor.

As reported in Minneapolis' Star Tribune, Ruminator will also most likely apply for a cultural grant of $50,000 through the city's sales-tax revenue (STAR) program to fund readings and other events.