Black Garnet Books, the only Black-owned bookstore in the Twin Cities, will debut as an online bookstore before opening as a pop-up store later this summer, CBS Minnesota reported.
Owner Dionne Sims plans to sell YA and adult books written by Black and racially diverse authors. She wants to eventually open a bricks-and-mortar location and, to that end, will launch a crowdfunding campaign in the near future. And once she has a bricks-and-mortar store, Sims also plans to have a community space available for activists.
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| Dionne Sims | |
The plan for Black Garnet Books was set in motion in mid-June, in response to the protests that began after the murder of George Floyd and the surge of support for Black-owned businesses. Sims pointed out on Twitter that Minnesota does not have a Black-owned bookstore, and she said it was her "new dream" to open one.
Even though this is an uncertain time for small businesses, Sims believes her store will be successful, and that the current wave of support for Black-owned businesses, and in interest in Black authors and Black stories, will continue.
"We're going into this with the mindset that things are different now," Sims explained. "My hope is that with this bookstore we can try to keep people thinking about it."