Semicolon Bookstore owner Danielle Moore recently revealed she is fundraising for a cafe to be added to the West Town location in a final effort to keep the bookstore open.
In January, Moore announced that she would be closing her two bookstore locations due to the cost of maintaining the downtown location and her business bank account being hacked after her checkbook was stolen.
The Magnificent Mile location closed last month, but the West Town location wasn’t scheduled to close until Independent Bookstore Day on April 27. She’s hoping to raise $25,000 by March 16 through a Kickstarter campaign.
“If it works, that’s great. We can stay,” Moore told The TRiiBE. “We can create this coffee shop venture that is going to be employee-owned, so it’s going to give the team—who deserves ownership—ownership.”
Moore said the shift to opening a coffee shop for the West Town location at 1355 W. Chicago Ave. came about due to the creative minds of her team. Also, Kickstarter reached out to her after she posted on social media about closing her stores.
“We did not have a relationship with them when we posted that we were closing. They sent us a DM and were like, ‘Hey, we love your store. What can we do to help?’” Moore said. “You never know who’s watching.”
So far, Moore’sKickstarter campaign has raised over $9,000. Moore said if the goal is not met within the allotted days of the campaign, they will close up shop.
“There are reasons why we don’t ask for money. The biggest reason is that the people that we support are typically the people who cannot afford to help when it comes down to it, and that’s why we’ve never asked for money or done any type of fundraiser,” Moore said. “But between my team and the Kickstarter team, they’re like, ‘Hey, I get it, but I think you should at least try.’”
Kickstarter did not respond to requests for comment.
Moore said the store’s community has kept her sane and hopeful. She’s been in conversation with Black booksellers across the country in places such as Washington D.C., New Orleans and New York. She’s also received love from her Chicago community.
“It was the outpouring from the Chicago booksellers. The Chicago booksellers are special,” Moore said. “The indie booksellers in Chicago are special, and they’re different. So it was just seeing that outpouring of love from them.”
Semicolon Bookstore is one of just a handful of Black-owned bookstores in Chicago. Coupled with the regular slow business months, a decline in interest in Black-owned bookstores is also on the rise and hurts businesses like Moore’s. In 2020, Moore and others saw an uptick in support as many sought out Black-owned businesses to support during national protests following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
Moore added that winter months, especially January and February, are particularly slow for bookstores and mentioned previously to The TRiiBE how margins are very low for the business in general. She said adding the cafe component could help to sustain business.
“[These] months are usually about 70% slower than the rest of the year, and that sucks,” Moore said. “So coming off of a closure announcement into the slow month is not ideal, but we are making it on a day-to-day, and we are trying our best.”
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