About: “As a nonprofit community center and Black-affirming bookshop, The Bottom stands to build community, celebrate culture, and engage the creativity of Black people in Knoxville.”.Contact: 86, Store Type: Democratically run non-profit.We’re more than just a bookshop we’re a force for good in our community.” We also know that it’s not enough to just know that inequalities exist but to instead have a critical and class-conscious approach to understanding why these issues exist and what we can all do to make the systems we interact with more equitable. We believe that every community deserves organizations that push the public consciousness to engage with the world more critically and approach each other with radical kindness. We do this by selling consciousness raising books, documentaries, board, and tabletop games, as well as sponsoring events and programs such as poetry slams/ spoken word open mics, cooperative game nights, pet adoption, writer workshops, and other events, to fulfill our mission of fostering societal transformations through access to knowledge. About: “ justice-driven cooperative mobile and pop-up bookstore, and vehicle for education and community building.Contact: Store Type: Worker Owned Cooperative member of US Federation of Worker Owned Cooperatives.In practice that means we use a horizontally-shared decision making model, have transparent financial practices with one another, and establish our own living wages and/or sweat equity compensation.” In order to live our values of equity, we use a consensus-based decision making structure in our day to day operations. We channel our community knowledge and values to inform how we move this work together.
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About: “Bluestockings Cooperative is a worker-owned community space and bookstore guided by the principles of abolition feminism, solidarity, and transformative justice practices.Contact: 91, Store Type: Worker Owned Cooperative member of US Federation of Worker Owned Cooperatives.More than a place to buy books, words! was a center for workshops, book clubs, readings, signings, story times and other events. An outgrowth of words!, an independent bookstore that was a staple of downtown Asbury Park from 2008 to 2020. About: “The Asbury Book Cooperative is an independent, community-run bookstore that serves as a literary hub and community space in the vibrant and diverse shore town of Asbury Park, New Jersey….We’re like a work club for people interested in projects that have a cultural impact.” There is a film about its founder, Andrew McKinley, called Water Under the Bridge. About: “Established in 2013, the Adobe Books & Arts Cooperative is a volunteer run, worker-owned cooperative.Contact: Store Type: Worker Owned Cooperative.This is a work in progress, so if we’ve missed a store or any or gotten any details wrong, please contact us and we would be glad to add them! We would also love to expand the directory to include stores outside the U.S. For communities thinking of starting a cooperative bookstore, it’s also a good resource for getting ideas and inspiration. We have also put together this directory so that cooperators can easily find one another.
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One of the Seven Cooperative Principles is “cooperation among cooperatives.” In an effort to promote such cooperation, we are working to form a mutual support network of current and aspiring cooperative bookstores.