(cont’d from page 7)
Here is the Bad News: When I looked over the results of our Bookstore research, my heart fell as I
discovered more than 2 out of 3 stores that were
in business just a few years ago are now closed.
I’ve shared the list of the closed bookstores below. I have nothing more meaningful to add. The
list speaks for itself….
Only 54 Black Owned Bookstores Remain in
America. This is a follow up to an article Death of
the Black Owned, Independent, Bookstore, we
originally published in March of 2012. The article
highlighted the fact the we had lost 66% of our
Black owned bookstores over the previous decade. Two years later almost half of the stores still
open in 2012 have closed. If you believe in the importance of bookstores, which are dedicated to
books by or about people of African descent, go
out of your way to support one. Do we want to see
an America where the ONLY place Black books
can be purchased is from Amazon? Do we really
want Amazon to have that responsibility—all by
themselves?
For more information, contact AALBC at:
1325 5th Avenue, Suite 2K
New York, NY 10029
Office: 347-692-2522 (347-MY-AALBC)
A & B Distributors – Brooklyn, NY
African & Islamic Books Plus – Cleveland, OH
African American Books and Publishing – Baltimore,
MD
African American Gift Gallery – Knoxville, TN
African American Heritage Book – West Palm Beach,
FL
African Artisans – Baldwin, NY
African Book Store – Fort Lauderdale, FL
African Heritage Books & Gifts – San Francisco, CA
African House Institute of Learning – Jersey City, NJ
African Marketplace – Los Angeles, CA
Afro Books – Atlanta, GA
Afrocentric Book Store – Chicago, IL
Afrocentric Books & Cafe – St. Louis, MO
Alkebulan Books – Berkeley, CA
Amen-Ra’s Bookstore and Gallery – Tallahassee, FL
Arawak Books – Hyattsville, MD
Ascension Books – Columbia, MD
Asiatic the Soul of Black Folks – Toronto, ON
Atlantic Bookpost – Reston, VA
B.T.S. Unlimited Books – Detroit, MI
Baruti-Ba Books – Dayton, OH
Bishari Urban Books, Phoenix Crossing Shopping
Center – , NC
Black Book Discounters – Houston, TX
Black By Popular Demand – Hyattsville, MD
Black Classics – Books & Gifts – Mobile, AL
Black Images Book Bazaar – Dallas, TX
Black Spring Books – Vallejo, CA
Black Swan Books & Coffee – Kohler, WI
Blacknificent Books & More – Raleigh, NC
Blackprint Heritage Gallery – New Haven, CT
Book House Cafe & Gifts – Benton Harbor, MI
Books In Color – North Highlands, CA
Books in the Black – Columbia, SC
(cont’d on page 13)
Writers’ World Newspaper—June/July 2014, Volume 4
12