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Bluestockings bookstore closes on Allen St., but plans to reopen

The pandemic has radically changed our lives — and even radical bookstores are not immune to its effects.

Bluestockings, the collectively run radical bookstore, fair trade cafe and activist center on Allen St., at 172 Allen St., at Stanton St., is closing due to the combined effects of COVID-19 and rising rent.

In a statement on their Web site, however, the Bluestockings Collective say they actually had outgrown the Lower East Side space and are hoping to reopen in a new, accessible brick-and-mortar location, one with “ramps and bathrooms and ventilation and chair lifts.”

An unfamiliar sight — the empty Bluestockings space. (Photo by Clayton Patterson)

Bluestockings is currently holding a relocating sidewalk sale, featuring books, posters, zines and also the shelves that are holding all of them.

The collective plans to continue its ongoing virtual programming in the coming weeks and months.

Bluestockings has been a radical presence on Allen St. for two decades. (Photo by Clayton Patterson)

Bluestockings first opened as a feminist bookstore in 1999. After briefly closing, it reopened in 2001 as a collectively run, worker-owned radical bookstore and activist center. It’s known for regularly hosting free author readings, discussions, workshops and panels.

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