Black Bird Bookstore, San Francisco, Calif., has moved to 4541 Irving St., not far from the original Outer Sunset neighborhood location on Judah St. that owner Kathryn Grantham opened in 2017. Last weekend, the bookstore hosted a Community Caravan of Moving Books, spending the day "carrying, wheeling, strolling and singing the books over to our new home."
In the shop's newsletter recently, Grantham had announced plans for the move, noting: "In the blurry days of 2020, with the sands shifting beneath so much of what we knew and loved, the neighborhood learned that the beloved 3 Fish Studios folks were moving their studio to the foothills of the Sierras. I remember feeling two strong feelings all at once--deep sadness to lose such incredible neighborhood people and also excitement for these creative spirits to be closer to the nature they so inspirationally bring into their artwork. When they told me they were hoping for a similarly community-oriented business to take over their building, and I saw a space twice the size for so many more books and events, a spark was lit for what is now the new home for Black Bird: 4541 Irving Street. It took many yarns to spin this into reality, but here we are. I can taste it, we are so close to opening the doors and sharing the block with new neighbors...."
The bookstore chronicled its big move in an Instagram video: "Wow what a community we have! Thank you thank you thank you! We moved everything that wasn't bolted to a wall in 2 hours. And now the transformation begins at our new home on Irving. We will be stocking the new shelves all week. Re-Opening day will be announced soon!"
The bookseller also posted: "Goodbye Judah! Beautiful faces all day in here, our last day at our first home. See you soon at 4541 Irving St! Thank you for the five years in this special space of book buying, backyard reading, treehouse snuggles, train table action, storytime, conversation, first dates, first books and so many more memories."