ALT Bluestockings Cooperative will be closing as of today. The current, former worker-owners, and staff part of the sunsetting crew are gutted to be delivering this news. After 26 years of serving marginalized communities as an independent feminist bookstore, event hub, and all-around radical community space, the daily operations are unfortunately no longer sustainable on multiple fronts.

ALT To all of our supporters-–our volunteers, staff and worker-owners over the years, community members, friends, sustaining members, we can’t thank you enough. Everyone who’s shared space with us, shared our fundraisers, attended or hosted events and kept the spirit of radical bookstores alive and well by shopping with us, thank you.

ALT This was our absolute last resort. On top of our crew’s ongoing struggle against the organized abandonment of New York City and constant crises, the remaining worker-owner and staff are at the limits of what they can manage in terms of health, disability, and finances. It would be unfair to the Bluestockings community at large to keep the storefront open, as needed as radical spaces are, and be unprepared and unresourced for future crises, and abruptly shutter. It’s time to sunset, transition on our terms, and envision new chapters.

ALT This decision comes after the shared failures of multiple cohorts to come to consensus around the guiding principles and practices Bluestockings should embody to move forward as a worker-owned cooperative that serves as a radical bookstore, cafe, and community event space. We are not perfect, but the lack of political and business-operations alignment on upholding the responsibilities of our space has directly led to many of the setbacks we’ve faced the last two years. Of course, $12,000 a month in rent, thousands in utilities, and racist, classist violence from “neighbors” certainly didn’t make our work any easier.