Bluestockings (bookstore)
worker coop | |
Location |
|
---|---|
Area served | New York metropolitan area |
Website | www |
Bluestockings is a radical bookstore, café, and activist center located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It started as a volunteer-supported and collectively owned bookstore; and is currently a worker-owned bookstore with mutual aid offerings/free store. The store started in 1999 as a feminist bookstore and was named for a group of Enlightenment intellectual women, the Bluestockings. Its founding location was 172 Allen Street, and is currently located a few blocks east on 116 Suffolk Street.
Influences
Bluestockings actively supports "movements that challenge hierarchy and all systems of oppression"
Structure
Bluestockings is a collectively owned independent bookstore that contains a small fair trade café serving coffee from Zapatista coffee cooperatives.[7] The Bluestockings collective is a small group of worker-owners. They make decisions based on consensus, with the input and support of volunteers and community members.[8] As of 2017, the store is registered as an S corporation in which no one person can own a majority of shares.[3] Volunteers contribute through self-directed projects and working groups. At its peak, Bluestockings had over 70 active volunteers.[4]: 24
Bluestockings serves as a community meeting space for literary, activist, feminist, and intellectual gatherings. In this public space, guests can relax and socialize as long as they want without purchasing anything.[9][6] Most nights, Bluestockings hosts author readings, discussions, screenings, workshops, open mics, and panels, all of which are free to attend.[3] Some notable speakers include members of the band Pussy Riot, poet Eileen Myles, Transgender Vanguard, and the Icarus Project.[5][10]
History
Bluestockings opened in 1999 as a feminist bookstore.[11] Founder Kathryn Welsh cited a lack of women's bookstores in New York among her reasons for founding Bluestockings. She started the store with the help of an anonymous investment of $50,000,[12] and at the start, only women could be members of the collective.[4]: 21 At the end of 2002, Bluestockings' revenue was negatively affected by the desertion of New York City's downtown following the September 11 attacks.[3] This caused the store to incur debt, and its informal collective broke up.[4]: 22
Welsh put the bookstore up for sale in February 2003, which she described as a personal, not business, decision.
The store was particularly successful following a 2015
The collective hoped to remain in the
The bookstore's landlord began the process of evicting the bookstore in October 2023.
See also
- ABC No Rio
- Firestorm Cafe & Books
- Lucy Parsons Center
- LGBT culture in New York City
- List of anarchist communities
References
- ^ "Bluestockings Mission Statement". Archived from the original on August 10, 2006. Retrieved August 31, 2006.
- ^ Sojwal, Senti (June 5, 2014). "These Are the Last of America's Dying Feminist Bookstores". Mic. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014.
- ^ a b c d Rakhmanova, Nicole. "A Safe Space for the Radical Mind: Bluestockings". Storefront Survivors. CUNY. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84935-016-7.
- ^ a b c Brown, Lisa (October 24, 2015). "Is the Lower East Side's Beloved Bluestockings Bookstore Set to be Shuttered?". Observer. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- ^ a b Kravitz, Melissa (March 18, 2019). "Bluestockings a safe space for feminist literature, activism and more on the LES". amNewYork. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- ^ Puglise, Nicole (December 29, 2014). "Bluestockings: The Lower East Side's Last Radical Bookstore". Observer. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ "Bluestockings Structure". Archived from the original on June 10, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
- from the original on February 2, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- ^ Brownstone, Sydney (June 6, 2013). "Two Members of Pussy Riot Popped Up at Bluestockings This Week". The Village Voice. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ Kawaguchi, Karen (July 24, 2000). "Feminist Feast and Famine". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- from the original on September 17, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- ^ Nawotka, Edward (February 10, 2003). "NYC Women's Bookstore for Sale". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- .
- ^ from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- ^ McGrath, Kathryn (July 2003). "Pushed to the Margins". bitch. Archived from the original on January 15, 2006.
- ^ Zimmerman, Alex (October 2, 2015). "Aging Bluestockings Book Shop Launches Crowdfunding Campaign to Fund Rehab Efforts". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on September 5, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- EBSCOhost 128426536.
- ^ Orlow, Emma (July 21, 2020). "LES radical bookstore and café Bluestockings is closing". Time Out New York. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- ^ Diamond, Jonny (August 10, 2020). "Iconic Lower East Side bookstore Bluestockings has found a new home!". Literary Hub. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
- ^ @bluestockings (April 8, 2021). "We're thrilled to share our biggest news yet: the formation of Bluestockings Cooperative!" (Tweet). Retrieved April 22, 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b Beery, Zoë (December 22, 2023). "Bluestockings Bookstore Is Facing Eviction for Handing Out Narcan". Curbed. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
Further reading
- "Bluestocking gets reprieve". EBSCOhost 9365758.
- Curkin, Charles (November 25, 2015). "At Bluestockings, a Manhattan Activist Center, Radical Is Sensible". from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- McGrath, Kathry (2004). "Pushed to the Margins: The Slow Death and Possible Rebirth of the Feminist Bookstore". Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women's Studies Resources. 25 (3): 4–9. Gale A124644046.
- Sarrazin, Chloe (July 8, 2020). "Bookspot of the Week: Bluestockings Bookstore". bookstr.com. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- Shannon, Deric (2013). "What Does It Mean to Fight and to Win?". Gale A342773667.
- Tudor, Silke (October 18, 2006). "Best jumping-off point for the burgeoning activist". EBSCOhost 22866428.