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Diverse-Owned Bookstores You Can Support Right Now

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Diverse-Owned Bookstores You Can Support Right Now

Diverse owned bookstores

Note: Updated April 2022.

By Alaina Leary

If you’re shopping for books to give as end-of-year or even as thank-goodness-2020-is-over gifts, consider shopping small and give back to an independent bookstore this season, since many are struggling due to the impact of the pandemic on sales. According to the American Booksellers Association, 20 percent of all independent bookstores in the US are in danger of closing; let’s support them. This list of US-based diverse-owned* bookstores is meant to be a starting place and a guide. If you have a local favorite, find out if they’re open and if they’re selling online or doing curbside pickup.

Our definition of diversity

We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, Native, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities*, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.

*We subscribe to a broad definition of disability, which includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses (this may also include addiction). Furthermore, we subscribe to a social model of disability, which presents disability as created by barriers in the social environment, due to lack of equal access, stereotyping, and other forms of marginalization.

Asian-, Native Hawaiian-, and Pacific Islander-owned bookstores

Black-owned bookstores

Disabled-owned bookstores

Indigenous/Native-owned bookstores

Jewish-owned bookstores

Latinx-owned bookstores

LGBTQ+-owned bookstores

Muslim-owned bookstores

Do you know of a diverse-owned bookstore that should be on this list? Email Alaina at alainalavoie@diversebooks.org to be added!

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Alaina Leary Lavoie headshotAlaina (Lavoie) is the communications manager of We Need Diverse Books. She also teaches in the graduate department of Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College and is a book reviewer for Booklist. She received a 2017 Bookbuilders of Boston scholarship for her work in the publishing industry. Her writing has been published in New York Times, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29, Allure, Healthline, Glamour, The Oprah Magazine, and more. She currently lives in Boston with her wife and their two literary cats. Follow her @AlainasKeys on Instagram and Twitter.