Philadelphia indie bookstores double as social justice hubs

Philly's brick-and-mortar booksellers are no longer merely peddling pages alone.

Why it matters: Indie bookstores have become hubs for social justice movements and diverse communities — as the related activism that defined the 2010s has seen some of its key initiatives unravel .

State of play: The missions of bookstores have "radically changed" after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, says Rachel Gilman, The Feminist Press' sales and marketing coordinator.

• Counterculture and indie bookstores across the country have provided food, menstrual products and contraceptives to community members, the New York Times reported . Mutual aid efforts have also sprung out of bookstores.

Zoom in: Mission-driven bookstores have proliferated in Philly for decades with others popping up more recently, including:

• Making Worlds , a bookstore and social center in West Philly, which supports grassroots organizing and promotes resisting oppression worldwide;
• Hakim's Bookstore in West Philly, the city's oldest Black-owned bookstore;
• Harriett's Bookshop in Fishtown, celebrating women authors, artists and activists.

The intrigue: Socially-minded bookstores "manage to persist, often for decades, between the spikes of public protests," Kimberley Kinder argues in her book , "The Radical Bookstore: Counterspace for Social Movements."

• Bookstores and activism "exist within a central paradox," per Kinder, straddling activist retail and capitalism; collective ownership and civic requirements; or donations and corporate power.

Between the lines: Indie bookstores often prioritize lifting diverse and marginalized voices on their shelves and at events, Gilman said.

Go deeper: Other U.S. mission-driven bookstores

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