Hive Mind Books, a queer and trans bookstore that debuted as an online and pop-up shop earlier this year, has opened a bricks-and-mortar location in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Located at 219 Irving Ave. in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, the store spans 700 square feet and carries new, used, and discounted books. The general-interest inventory includes an assortment of genres and many titles by queer and trans authors. The bookstore also features a coffee counter selling espresso drinks, tea, and pastries, with seating for up to 14.
Co-owners Julie Wernersbach and Robyn Warren plan to start hosting events soon, and they intend to keep doing periodic pop-up appearances around Brooklyn. One of their first events will be a trick-or-treat for books event on Halloween.
"Brooklyn currently does not have a dedicated queer bookstore. We've been popping up with queer book fairs and author events for several months now and have seen how excited people are for a thoughtful, curated selection of these books," the owners wrote. "We also love and recommend books by authors of other backgrounds. It's important to us to make sure that our store shares the perspectives of global and BIPOC writers, whether or not they're queer. The world is big. We read widely!"
The pair have a combined 29 years of bookselling experience and met more than 14 years ago while working at BookPeople in Austin, Tex. Prior to starting Hive Mind, Wernersbach was founding general manager at P&T Knitwear in Manhattan and general manager of Book Revue on Long Island. Warren was assistant buyer and accounting clerk at BookPeople and has a Master's degree in emergency management and disaster science, which she has put to use as a consultant creating emergency plans for local bookstores.
"We've had such a warm welcome from the neighborhood," Wernersbach added. "This is my neighborhood, too, and it feels really good to hear local readers say that a bookstore is adding something of value here. I can't wait to grow with the community."