Turning the Page on Corporate Bookselling

noun

1. a bookstore that’s collectively owned and democratically governed by its membership

With cooperatives, no one is sitting at the top getting rich. Instead, the goal is collective sustainability. The day-to-day operations of a co-op bookstore resemble an independent bookstore, but governance is democratic. Co-op members — whether workers, customers or a mix — buy shares of the store, which grant them a say in major decisions, from board elections to long-term strategy. Profit is typically reinvested into the store, whether through community programming or distributions to worker-owners.

Yes, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Competition from online retailers, rising rents and supply-chain pressures affect co-op bookstores just as much as conventional stores, and because their structures don’t fit traditional investment models, co-ops can struggle to access loans or scale operations. Instead, co-op stores tend to cultivate a mix of revenue streams, from book sales and coffee to donations, events and grants. But they can also operate on thinner margins and make decisions that conventional businesses might consider too risky.

Co-op bookstores belong to a long tradition of radical booksellers that function as movement infrastructure rather than mere retail. Throughout the 20^th century, socialist, anarchist, Black liberation, feminist and queer movements relied on bookstores to circulate censored ideas, host political education events and provide physical space for organizing. Many contemporary co-op bookstores draw directly from the anarchist infoshop tradition of the 1990s and early 2000s, while experimenting with more durable structures for longevity in the contemporary capitalist era.

In our hypercommodified moment, with shrinking public space and algorithms driving taste, coop bookstores are more than just a place to buy books. Emerging from an anarchist infoshop in Baltimore, Red Emma’s serves as a hub for social justice movements and mutual aid, combining bookselling with a café and robust political programming. In Chicago, Pilsen Community Books provides space for organizing meetings, teach-ins and community events, especially for working-class and immigrant communities often pushed out of commercial and civic spaces. While co-ops may not topple Amazon, they prove culture can be more than spoon-fed corporate mush.

This is part of ​“The Big Idea,” a series offering brief introductions to progressive theories, policies, tools and strategies that can help us envision a world beyond capitalism.