Black Garnet Books
{{Short description|Bookstore in Minnesota}}{{Infobox organization
| name = Black Garnet Books
| formation = {{start date and age|2020}}
| logo = Black_Garnet_Books_logo.png
| logo_size = 200
| logo_alt = Logo of Black Garnet Books
| founder = Dionne Sims
| type = Bookstore
| headquarters = 1319 University Ave W, St Paul, MN 55104
| location_city = Saint Paul, Minnesota
| coordinates = {{Coord|44|57|22.02|N|93|9|18.87|W}}
| map = {{OSM Location map
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|width=300
|height=220
|scalemark=40
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| website = https://www.blackgarnetbooks.com/
}}
Black Garnet Books is a bookstore in Minnesota. The only Black-owned, brick and mortar bookstore in the state, it operated as a pop-up{{cite news |last1=Wigdahl |first1=Heidi |title=New owner picks up the story of St. Paul's Black Garnet Books |url=https://www.kare11.com/article/money/business/behind-the-business/new-owner-picks-up-story-of-st-pauls-black-garnet-books/89-4239ceef-9ca4-4005-8b3f-34244fd6870c |access-date=2 April 2025 |publisher=KARE 11 |date=20 February 2025}} for a year before receiving a grant from the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota, to open a physical location.
Establishment
{{Tweet
| name = Dionne Sims
| username = OhDionne
| date = June 15, 2020
| text = Minnesota doesn't have a black-owned bookstore. I think that's my new dream.
| ID = 1272536713387282435
}}
In June 2020, University of Minnesota graduate Dionne Sims discovered that there were no Black-owned bookstores in the state of Minnesota while researching ways to support the Black community after the murder of George Floyd. (Ancestry Books, a Black-owned bookstore in Minnesota, closed in 2015. Other Black-owned book businesses, such as Mind's Eye Comics and Babycake's Book Stack, do not have brick and mortar bookstore locations.{{Cite web|last=Reilly|first=Mark|date=December 15, 2021|title=Black Garnet Books will open space on University Avenue in St. Paul|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2021/12/15/black-garnet-books-midway-store.html|url-status=live|access-date=December 30, 2021|website=Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215140820/https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2021/12/15/black-garnet-books-midway-store.html |archive-date=2021-12-15 }}) After Sims posted a tweet expressing her desire to start a Black-owned bookstore in the state, the tweet received more than 14,000 likes,{{Cite web|last=Bloomquist|first=Madison|date=November 9, 2020|title=Why Dionne Sims Started Black Garnet Books, Minnesota's Only Black-Owned Bookstore|url=https://mspmag.com/api/content/3be8c4e6-fd05-11ea-82ca-1244d5f7c7c6/|access-date=December 30, 2021|website=Mpls.St.Paul|language=en-us}} and she began a crowdfunding campaign for the bookstore on July 10. By July 12, the campaign had raised more than $81,000.{{Cite web|last=Jackson|first=Zoë|date=July 20, 2020|title=St. Paul woman looks to launch the only Black-owned bookstore in Minnesota|url=https://www.startribune.com/woman-pursues-dream-to-launch-only-black-owned-bookstore-in-minnesota/571705192/|url-status=live|access-date=December 30, 2021|website=Star Tribune|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712213015/https://www.startribune.com/woman-pursues-dream-to-launch-only-black-owned-bookstore-in-minnesota/571705192/ |archive-date=2020-07-12 }} Overall, she raised more than $108,000 in the campaign using GoFundMe.
In 2021, Black Garnet Books operated as a pop-up.{{Cite web|last=Raemont|first=Nina|date=December 14, 2021|title=Black Garnet Books Finds a Home in St. Paul|url=https://mspmag.com/api/content/f7916d06-5d08-11ec-87a4-12f1225286c6/|access-date=December 30, 2021|website=Mpls.St.Paul|language=en-us}} Sims told the Star Tribune that funds raised from the crowdfunding campaign helped to cover the startup costs and pay for inventory but that they did not cover construction of a physical bookstore space. Also in 2021, Saint Paul City Councilor Mitra Jalali provided Sims with information about a Neighborhood STAR grant, and she received a $100,000 grant from the city of Saint Paul to renovate and open a location at Hamline Station in the Midway neighborhood.{{cite news |last1=Jackson |first1=Zoë |title=Black Garnet Books to open in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood in 2022 |url=https://www.startribune.com/black-owned-bookstore-to-open-in-st-pauls-midway-neighborhood-in-2022/600130679/ |access-date=January 6, 2022 |work=Star Tribune |date=December 27, 2021}} The {{Convert|1,800|sqft}} space opened in October 2022.{{Cite web |last=Maya |first=Cynthia |date=2022-10-19 |title=Black Garnet Books Now Open in St. Paul's Midway Neighborhood |url=https://mspmag.com/api/content/9f0fe3e4-4efa-11ed-856d-12274efc5439/ |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=Mpls.St.Paul Magazine |language=en-us}}
Sims intentionally focused on making her store's space accessible, including waiting for a space that had an accessible restroom and no stairs, in addition to interior design elements that make it easier for someone using a wheelchair, as one example, to navigate.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-22 |title=Black Garnet Books Builds Inclusion into Its St. Paul Bookstore |url=https://streets.mn/2023/02/22/black-garnet-books/ |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=Streets.mn |language=en-US}}
= Purpose =
Black Garnet Books was planned to focus on Black authors and other diverse authors, and to stock books for adults and young adults to avoid competition with Babycake's Book Stack, a bookmobile in Saint Paul, Minnesota, focused on diverse children's literature. Sims told Mpls.St.Paul in 2020 that she wanted the bookstore to be "a place people can go for self-empowerment" through "education, connection, [and] the pursuit of knowledge".
In 2023, Sims told the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder that every single book carried in the store is by Black, Indigenous, or other people of color.{{Cite web |last=Juhn |first=Chris |date=2023-07-06 |title=Black Business Spotlight: Black Garnet Books |url=https://spokesman-recorder.com/2023/07/06/black-business-spotlight-black-garnet-books/ |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder |language=en-US}}
Activity
In November 2021, Black Garnet Books began a book drive on Bookshop.org to donate copies of The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story to schools in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. {{As of|2021|December|14|df=US}}, the drive had drawn more than 700 donations.
The store has hosted book-related events, such as author meet-and-greets, and non-book events such as speed dating and art fairs.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.blackgarnetbooks.com/}}
- [https://bookshop.org/shop/blackgarnetbooks Black Garnet Books] on Bookshop.org
{{authority control}}
Category:2020 establishments in Minnesota
Category:Black-owned companies of the United States
Category:Crowdfunding projects