25 years of Bluestockings History

Help us exist for another 25 years by becoming a member

Books featuring or mentioning Bluestockings

2024 is Bluestockings Cooperative’s 25th birthday! To help Bluestockings exist for the next 25 years, consider joining the membership program! Memberships start as low as $2/month and we offer great perks like book discounts and book-of-the-month clubs. Members are the reason we can be an anti-capitalist bookstore- ensuring that everyone can access our space regardless of their ability to pay, supporting our free events, and resisting the gentrification of the Lower East Side.  Help us reach our goal of 100 new members this June!

25 years of Queer Feminist History

We’ve pulled out a few highlights from our long history, but if you want to look through even more, you can check ouot the In The Media section of our website

1999

"Taking its name from what was once a derisive term for intellectual or literary women, a bookstore specializing in works by, for and about women opened last week, with a small stage for readings and performances. The shop, Bluestockings, at 172 Allen Street, is the only such bookstore in the city, said its owner, Kathryn Welsh, 23. "Neighborhood Report: Lower East Side; By, for and About Women" by Eric V. Copage, The New York Times, 06 June 1999. [Archived with Wayback Machine]

2000

"Bluestockings embodies a distinctively activist character, with strong ties to political, human rights and lesbian/gay groups. 'There are very few trans-inclusive stores that encompass women and transgender experiences.' One of the store's strongest events was a recent reading by transgender writer Leslie Feinberg."
"Feminist Feast And Famine" by Karen Kawaguchi, Publishers Weekly, 24 July 2000. [Archived with Wayback Machine].

2011

"[B]etween 1993 and 1998 (before the internet became a viable gathering place!), we lost 80 feminist bookstores, and then another 30 between 1998 and 2000. ... Bluestockings, which survived, says: 'To expect us to compete with large corporations at their own game misses the entire point of our existence, which is precisely to offer an alternative to the value system and economic structure they represent. The needs we meet (or try to meet) are mutually exclusive to those met by the big chains, and are in fact their antidote.' Independent Bookstores who survived the recession have done so by getting creative with how they involve themselves in the community. ... Bluestockings invites scholars and authors to speak on pressing topics like 'Obama and the Gays' and hosts events like 'Women’s/Trans Poetry Jam & Open Mike.'"
"How Will We Save LGBTQ Bookstores?" by Riese, Autostraddle, 25 May 2011.[Archived with Wayback Machine].

Around 75 people gathered at Bluestockings bookstore on June 3rd to participate in the first in a series of informative events planned by the Democracia Real Ya – NYC group shortly before Occupy Wall Street was organized. Photo: William Bourassa Jr. "Building Real Democracy Now in NYC. Talk at Bluestockings, June 3rd," Democracia Real Ya – NYC, 12 June 2011. [Archived with Wayback Machine].

2013

"Their appearance on Monday night at Bluestockings, a feminist bookshop on New York’s Lower East Side, was not announced on the store’s website. Invitations spread through word of mouth. The 50-odd attendees, many of them young activists, were asked to keep news of the band’s arrival off social media and the Internet. The Guardian was able to attend the small gathering provided it kept news of their appearance under a 48-hour embargo and did not photograph Fara and Shaiba with their masks off – all security measures, they said, to avoid the Russian security services that imprisoned their bandmates and continue to target them.""Two Members of Pussy Riot Popped Up at Bluestockings This Week" by Sydney Brownstone, Village Voice, 06 June 2013. [Archived with Wayback Machine].

2014- Our 15 Year Anniversary!

"'Feminist bookstores are essential learning spaces for feminist movements, where everyone from emerging feminists to those who have been engaging in feminism for years can learn from the books on the shelves, as well as one another,' Bluestockings' Janelle Kilmer told PolicyMic."
"These Are the Last of America's Dying Feminist Bookstores" by Senti Sojwal, PolicyMic, 05 June 2014. [Archived with Wayback Machine].

2017

"Recently, while bemoaning the lack of women's spaces even in Manhattan, a young queer woman told me that Bluestockings, the radical bookstore on the Lower East Side, is a rare spot where women can meet in person. Bluestockings is a community center, hosting book clubs, yoga classes, and sober poly mixers. It's the kind of eclectic, activist space where the pioneers of feminist and LGBT bookselling would feel right at home."
"Between The Lines With Bookish Lesbians" by June Thomas, The Advocate, 11 January 2017. [Archived with Wayback Machine].

2019- Our 20 Year Anniversary

"A lot of people in zine culture that I’ve chatted with mention a first zine that drew them in completely. For me, it happened when I was a 23-year-old ethnomusicology graduate student. I was at Bluestockings, a radical feminist co-op in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and I saw a brightly colored, glossy zine that stood out and immediately drew me in. The front cover was embossed in sections with glitter tape and a metallic noise maker was attached to the binding. It was called They Make Noise by Lou Bank and it featured portraits and bios of underground queer musicians. I remember being stricken by the fact that the zine was not just words on the paper, but a carefully thought out piece of art that someone spent a lot of time and care to assemble." "CUT AND PASTE: A Brief History of Zine Publishing" by Rebecc Cunin, Audiofemme, 21 February 2019. [Archived with Wayback Machine]. They Make Noise. Photos & Design by: Lou Bank

"[A]s she crouches down into a raised child’s pose, dressed in a metallic blue bodysuit, platform heels, and a long black ponytail ... Dye tops off her performances with live singing—most often sad love songs—while she crushes her handmade cakes styled in bright pink and blues." Photo: Abygai Peña at lindsaydye.com/bluestockings "Let Them Sit On Cake: Professional Cake Sitter Lindsay Dye On Art, Camming, And The Decriminalization of Sex Work" by Abygai Peña, Bust, 06 December 2019.[Archived with Wayback Machine].

2021- Our New Location on 116 Suffolk Street

"The new home for the Bluestockings Cooperative officially opened yesterday at 116 Suffolk St." Photo: Stacie Joy/EV Grieve "Opening Day at the New Bluestockings Cooperative on the Lower East Side," EV Grieve, 24 April 2021. [Archived with Wayback Machine].

"At Bluestockings’ location on Allen Street on the Lower East Side, one could sip a $1 cup of coffee while browsing its narrow shelves packed with titles that ran the gamut from hardcover feminist bestsellers to anarchist zines. If you needed a pad or tampon, you could get one for free, provided that you were able to squeeze into the bathroom, which was approximately the size of your average New York City apartment closet, if not smaller. Somehow the bookstore, activist center, and café — collectively owned and entirely volunteer operated — had been operating in the same location since 1999, weathering the increasingly rapid onslaught of gentrification.
But this past July, Bluestockings announced that the business was being forced to close up shop, citing a landlord who was demanding more money while refusing to make necessary repairs to the space. The store promised, however, that this was not goodbye.
Just two weeks later, Bluestockings announced that it had found a new home at 116 Suffolk Street, just a few blocks away from the original location."

2024- 25 Years on the Lower East Side

Its been a tumultuous year, but we are proud of our Overdose Prevention Program, our Free Store, and our dedication to our community. Thanks for coming on this little history tour with us and for supporting us all these years. We don’t take a second of it for granted. Please help us stay open for years to come by becoming a member

"The store’s mission 'has always been to be a place where you don't need to spend money to exist,' said [Salonee Bhaman, a former worker-owner of Bluestockings]. 'All sorts of people have used that cafe space as a place to work, read, be warm, be cool.'
By many accounts, Bluestockings has succeeded at its mission.

"A bookstore on the Lower East Side has divided a community" by Precious Fondren, Gothamist, 20 January 2024. [Archived with Wayback Machine].

"What is Harm Reduction? ft. Al from Bluestockings NYC," Unapologetic Tawk, Episode 30, 1 April 2024. [Archived with Wayback Machine].