In taking stock when looking to reopen, there are an increasing number of organizations and individuals to thank for their help during our Co-ViD shutdown. After watching friends shutter their businesses for good and closing the gallery ourselves, we are certainly appreciative to have the opportunity to continue the bookstore . It has certainly been a time of respectrumming.

First of all, thank you to all of the customers, family and friends who have checked in on the porch, purchased items when we ran online sales and who donated to our GoFundMe drive. The notes of encouragement and wishes to see the store remain have been a motivating drive to get back to it.

Secondly, a sincere thank you to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation for a small grant early in the Co-ViD shutdown that kept our spirit up. They have done wonderful work watching over the independent bookstore industry for decades. A big thank you also to the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority for approving an emergency grant that covered rent for awhile. Also our landlord, owners of Farmside Florist, also in Sussex, has been very gracious throughout.

Thank you to everyone in the health care profession. Whether lab techs, group home assistants, EMS drivers, researchers, doctors and nurses on the front lines- we salute you for a tremendous job. Thank you to police, fire, military and guard for their service in what has certainly been strange times. Thank you also to the teachers and the educational field for routinely adapting for the safety of your students. Respectrum Books is offering a 30% off to all those listed above.

I lost family, friends and customers during this time and suffered from mental exhaustion of planning and replanning. I personally received approximately 4 months of the minimum payment of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

Shout outs to the American Bookseller’s Association and the Sussex County Chamber of Commerce, for all of the resources they have shared and posted for members and non-members alike. We remain members of both. Sussex Borough Mayor Ed Meyer, Councilman Mario Poggi and staff with United States Congressman Josh Gottenheimer routinely checked in on this small business, and it was appreciated.

There are several friends and fellow business owners, who have been invaluable ears and it means the world.

It should be noted that some generous financial assistance from family, who are now vaccinated, that allows us to reopen.

We will be reopening by appointment first, and honestly appreciate all the love, support and patience during this all. May we find clarity through the chaos and love our neighbors a little deeper through this all.

Stephen M Denman, Owner

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Respectruming often comes in the form of recognizing all that we can be thankful for. The idea for Respectrum Arts has been well over a decade in the making and I have hundreds of people to appreciate in that journey. From bookstore and gallery owners, to other entrepreneurs and visionaries who have shared their initial trepidations and encouragement to plow through. So many places and people and experiences have inspired me. Artists I have shared space with, thinkers who I have shared conversation with; people I have cared for and people who have cared for me. There are friends, who have entertained years of what seemed like outlandish ideas from where we were. Partners, who must have been rather frustrated with my lack of cultivating these ideas and watched me spin my wheels. Parents, who embraced that I was on my own path and were helpful if I stumbled. Grandparents, who showed by example, that if your will was consistent, you would be prosperous. People who have taught me about the things for which they are passionate. Artists and writers who are making Respectrum what it is.

As I write this, I realize there are just too many people to name specifically, at the moment. For the time being, it should be known that I could not have handled this initiation phase without my brother, Travis Denman; my cousin, James Denman and my grandfather, Arthur McQuillan.

I intend to devote this page to stories of this overwhelming gratitude with help in this evolving endeavor as I get a chance. My best to you all.

–Stephen M Denman, November 18, 2018