Walking down the streets on the Lower East Side, Juan and I walked by several cafes, some Jewish bakeries and delis, a few grocery stores and liquor shops, a fur and leather outlet, several clothing stores, and a wide myriad of different businesses. On a Saturday afternoon, business was booming. Having spoken to many owners and staff who were too busy to allot us some time, we were ready to come back to Brookdale when I noticed a glass window with a handwritten sign saying, “Black Lives Matter.” A few feet further, another one said, “No Ban! No Wall!” I walked in and pulled my partner in with me.
Bluestockings is a bookstore, but it was clearly not just that. Shelves lined the walls, there was a large discussion group sitting around a table, a section shelling Diva Cups, stickers, and notebooks, and a small area selling coffee and tea. I was intrigued. After speaking to Ashley and Maria, two dedicated volunteers, I realized we found a gem. Bluestockings is registered as an S corporation, with no one owner being able to own the majority of shares. There are no employees! Nobody is paid. All of the “workers” volunteer their time, and in general, a lot of it. Any profits are put back into the store and into taxes. “No money is claimed outside of general expenses,” Maria explains. “We come in because we’re happy to be here,” Ashley says, and Maria chimes in, “Yeah this is not our shift, either of us.”
According to Maria, Bluestockings opened in 1999 and was originally a privately-owned women’s bookstore. A few years later, the owners were able to secure the next door location. It was bought by a collective, tackling a more intersectional scope. They are mission aligned. “We are an intersectional feminist base. We strive to curate through that lens.” But they strongly believe in intersectionality, and that issues such as race, class, and gender are not independent of one another.
As we talked about the area, Maria noted that, “We pay Lower East Side rent. It’s a crazy disparity. It’s very difficult to run a shop like this in New York.” Info shops across the world simply don’t have as much overhead as Bluestockings does. However, “Our landlord is very keen on keeping consistent rent,” the ladies remark.
But there are some good things about the location. “Whenever there’s a pro, there’s a con too. The amount of traffic we get, how easy it is for someone who barely speaks English who’s looking for the radical spot in New York. They don’t know where else to go. They don’t know a place that is consistent enough.” Being located in such a populated area, many visitors are able to come in. Not only that, but the location is accessible, with a subway nearby. Additionally, keeping the location the same for so many years has allowed Bluestockings to be so successful. They have had people come back from 15 years ago because the location has not changed. “So many areas from ten years ago, they don’t exist anymore. The neighborhood has changed tremendously. Gentrification is a huge thing here. This used to be where you would move if you couldn’t afford your rent.” Keeping Bluestockings in the same area has given it stability as a shop, something many places cannot say.
In addition, given the evenings on the lower East Side, it is also nice for the store to be open 11 to 11 so there’s a sober option available for residents in the community.
We spoke about the content of the bookstore and what it does besides sell books. “We host events almost every single day. We host discussion groups during the day and presentation-style events at night. All our bookshelves are on wheels.” The volunteers host book readings and Open Mic. Eileen Myles did her recent book launch there. They also host the Icarus Project centered around mental health and the Women’s/Trans’ Poetry Jam.
The bookstore/info shop also has Tuesday morning yoga. “There’s no real talking in a yoga class but just to have a space that is inclusive regardless of if you come in and you’re disabled or you come in and your trans, and you don’t want people to be all up in your grill, you’re just trying to do some yoga. I think it says something especially considering there is a hot yoga place upstairs.”
I asked the ladies about the section with products such as Diva Cups. Maria replied, “We try to be a resource for the community.” After discussing for a while she remarked, “There’s this common misunderstanding, especially among the radical left community, that you’re not doing something unless its direct action and thats simply not true. The fact that a person can come in and have a conversation that normalizes the topics that we have here. A CVS denormalizes it [Diva Cups] by not having it in stock. It’s about normalizing these things. Gender aside, literally half the people on this planet menstruate. it’s not everyones favorite topic but still you buy stuff for it. For a space to make a conscious decision in what they carry- the existence of a space like this and the thought that goes behind what is stocked, are definitely doing something already.”
Some of the products other than books, including Diva Cups, that Bluestockings sells.
Maria and Ashley sat with us for nearly forty minutes as we discussed multiple aspects of this bookstore. Extremely friendly and articulate, they were so filled with passion for the bookstore that it seemed to be a conversation between acquaintances, and not an interview. Truthfully, it was a learning process for us as college students.
As a storefront business located in the Lower East Side, Bluestockings is, admittedly, not where you would go to find mystery novels or talk about men’s health. “The idea of a space is that it’s finite. We’re not a general bookstore. If people want to have a conversation about men’s rights, this is not the place.” But, that aligns with the mission of the bookstore, its feminism, and its intersectionality. It is a safe space for those who need it and its success may be accredited to its stability and dedication to the cause.
Bookstore Copy (this is the audio recording link- just press on it to listen)
Credit to http://bluestockings.com/online-store/
