Black Garnet Books in St. Paul, Minn., which was put up for sale last summer by owner and founder Dionne Sims, has a new owner. MPR News reported that Terresa Moses has purchased the business that was originally launched by Sims in 2020 as a pop-up and online shop before transitioning to a bricks-and-mortar model in 2022.
Sims said that selling the store was not a hard decision, especially with the buyer being a friend. "I'm someone that when I start to feel content, I feel like I am ready to grow in a different area," Sims said. "Terresa was actually the first person that I reached out to because we've worked together so often. I was so shy about it, how can you ask someone to buy a bookstore?"
Moses noted: "It really universally felt like this was meant to be. It's something that really opened up to me the idea that we can actually exchange Black wealth and that was something really strange to be physically doing."
Sims said that Moses, who is a professor at the University of Minnesota, published author and co-founder of Blackbird Revolt, already understood the store's vision and plans to continue Sims's work while expanding and hosting more community events. She also wants to have a pop-up Black Garnet location at the Blackbird Revolt studio space in Minneapolis.
"Black Garnet Books is an abolitionist bookstore that focuses and centers the narrative of Black and brown writers," Moses said. "It's still queer-owned, it's still woman-owned, it's still abolitionist, period."
Noting that she plans to focus on her writing, Sims said, "This decision has been made easier by the fact that there is someone who gets it that is taking over. I've always just been someone who's really open to change and really open to, like rearranging my life in a way that either serves the people around me or serves my dreams for the future. I'm kind of open to listening to the universe and hearing what it says I should do next."