After 26-plus years, Bluestockings says goodbye on the Lower East Side

Photos (from yesterday)

and reporting by Stacie Joy

Bluestockings Cooperative announced that it will close as a business at the end of 2025, ending a 26-year run as an independent feminist bookstore, café and radical community space. 

In a statement, the worker-owners and staff said daily operations are no longer sustainable, citing health, financial and structural challenges. 

The store at 116 Suffolk St., between Rivington and Delancey, has closed its doors for business. Bluestockings will fulfill book orders and membership perks online through the end of the year and plans to use remaining funds to pay debts, vendors, and staff handling the transition.

Founded in 1999, Bluestockings has long served as a hub for marginalized communities on the Lower East Side. Bluestockings opened on Suffolk in 2021 after nearly 22 years on Allen Street.

Here's the full statement via the Bluestocking's website: 

The current, former worker-owners, and staff part of the sunsetting crew are gutted to be delivering this news. After 26+ years of serving marginalized communities as an independent feminist bookstore, event hub, and all-around radical community space, the daily operations are unfortunately no longer sustainable on multiple fronts. 

Your support and contributions have sustained the spirit of this radical bookstore for years. We cannot thank you enough for everything you've done for us, and this beautiful, messy, space! 

This closure was our absolute last resort. On top of our crew's ongoing struggle against the organized abandonment of New York City and constant crises, the remaining worker-owner and staff are at the limits of what they can manage in terms of health, disability, and finances. It would be unfair to the Bluestockings' community at large to keep the storefront open, as needed as radical spaces are, and be unprepared and unresourced for future crises, and abruptly shutter. It's time to sunset, transition on our terms, and envision new chapters. 

Here's what to expect: our doors are closed for business as of today, we plan to fulfill any book orders through the end of 2025, and we will also aim to send out any outstanding membership perks within this time. If you're a member, we will officially turn off memberships on December 15th, and absolutely understand if you'd like to cancel earlier. We will, unfortunately, not be able to host any programming or events that may have been scheduled after today, and we're deeply sorry for these abrupt cancellations. 

All remaining funds from the WithFriends membership platform, the GoFundMe, Venmo and elsewhere will be going directly towards settling the shop's considerable outstanding debts, paying out our many vendors, and wherever possible, compensating the crew handling our sunsetting process. 

For more responses to questions we anticipate y'all may have, see this link.

This decision comes after the shared failures of multiple cohorts to come to a consensus around the guiding principles and practices Bluestockings should embody to move forward as a worker-owned cooperative that serves as a radical bookstore, café, and community event space. We've made a lot of mistakes, but the lack of political and business-operations alignment on upholding the responsibilities of our space has directly led to many of the setbacks we've faced the last two years. Of course, $12,000 a month in rent, thousands in utilities, and racist, classist violence from "neighbors" certainly didn't make our work any easier. [Ed Note: This Curbed piece has more on the challenges with the landlord and neighbors.]

We hope to share more in the near future on what's next. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who's shared space with us. To everyone who came to Bluestockings and found a book that helped define their radical ethos, who came to an event to support collective liberation, who found love and community over what our world could be…the care we're taking to sunset this space, as best we know how, is because of your support over these 26+ years.