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Robbie Kellman Baxter shares a story about her favourite bookstore and how it provides a great example of the Membership Economy in action.

When a Menlo Park bookstore was economically threatened, the community stepped in and created a membership program to improve long-term sustainability. 

Founded in 1955 by peace activist Roy Kepler, Kepler’s Books is a large independent bookstore. After its founding, it quickly became a center for intellectual thought and community discussion for the people living in the suburbs surrounding Stanford University. Over the years, the bookstore moved to increasingly larger locations, until it found its current home in downtown Menlo Park, California. Kepler’s is a neighbor to many of the Membership Economy pioneers featured in this book. After its move to Silicon Valley, many of the most innovative and successful investors and entrepreneurs frequented Kepler’s as a favorite browsing destination. 

By 2005, however, the bookselling landscape had changed, due in large part to the innovations of online retailers like Amazon. On August 31, 2005, Kepler’s Books closed its doors.

Read the full article, Kepler’s Books – A Story of a Local Business and the Membership Economy, on LinkedIn.