Bluestockings to Close at the End of February Unless Buyer Found

Another well-known New York City independent bookstore is looking for a last-minute reprieve. Just two weeks after announcing that her store was up for sale, Bluestockings Women's Bookstore owner Kathryn Welsh told BTW that the store would close at the end of February unless a buyer materializes before then. The news comes less than a week after Deacon Maccubbin announced he had purchased the landmark gay and lesbian bookstore Oscar Wilde Bookshop, just prior to the store's scheduled closing. (For more on Oscar Wilde Bookshop, click here.)

Welsh opened the 900-square-foot Bluestockings in 1999 when she was only 23, "at a time when people thought [opening a store of this type] would be insane," she said. "This proved to be a viable business…. We're not in debt, we are in a good solid space." Nonetheless, Welsh decided to sell the bookstore, "because my life is going in a different direction," she said. "I'm going to business school [next fall] to get an MBA."

Bluestockings Women's Bookstore has an inventory of 10,000 titles worth about $50,000, both new and used, with a mix of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, and the store has revenues of between $100,000 and $150,000, as reported by Publishers Weekly. The store's rent is $2,200 per month. Welsh has two full-time employees, but they will not be staying on if the store is sold.

Until recently, it looked as if the business had found a buyer, Welsh said. She had serious interest in the store, but "that faded and now we are faced with closure at the end of February," she explained. However, she stressed that she is committed to making the project continue, if possible, and said she is more than willing to train the new owners on the ins and outs of running a bookstore, if need be.

Most importantly, she expects that, if it continues, the store would remain a vibrant and profitable part of its lower eastside community. "I firmly believe that New York City can support [a feminist bookstore]."

Anyone interested in purchasing Bluestockings should contact Welsh at [email protected] or call (212) 777-6028. --David Grogan