A Bookstore Celebrating Women and People of Color

Café Con Libros is an intersectional feminist bookstore, owned by Afro-Latinx women, located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. As stated on their website, the team at Café Con Libros is focused on community, transparency, accountability, equity, authenticity, solidarity, love, and the possibility of imperfection. They hope to foster a positive environment and attract people who believe in these values. In addition to being a bookstore that serves tea and coffee, Café Con Libros holds book events, such as feminist and Women of Color book club meetings. Beverages, books, and likeminded individuals are community creators, and Café Con Libros succeeds in creating a safe and enjoyable place to be.  

As I explored the neighborhood and home of Café Con Libros, Crown Heights, I noticed many Food spots and spaces for children and education nearby. On the map below you will find restaurants from many diverse cultures that serve Carribean, American, Mexican, and West African cuisine. A few blocks away there is the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and a few blocks in the opposite direction there is the Brooklyn Museum. Educational places surround this bookstore, which is effective in terms of the locale of the store. People can visit these places and finish a day at the museum with a hot coffee and an enjoyable book. There are many schools in this area as well. Kids can visit the shop after class with their friends or guardians. The perfect location for a bookstore is a neighborhood with people from many backgrounds and children. Books are sold for a variety of interests. There is also a nice Botanical gardens near Café con Libros if people want to read in a serene outdoor environment.

Miller mentions in Reluctant Capitalists, “the independents [non bookstore chains] offer a shopping experience that is unique, and therefore more interesting and stimulating than the interminable sameness that is said to characterize the chains… the independents consider the chains’ standardized look as another step toward the homogenization of the nation’s culture, (111). This statement reminds me of Cafe Con Libros, firstly, because it is located in New York City, which is an incredibly diverse city that celebrates uniqueness and culture. Also the culture of this bookstore is very strong and is geared towards empowering women and people of color within their shop. It isn’t a neutral space. It is a positive and progressive space that wouldn’t be expressed in a chain bookstore like Barnes and Noble. Miller also refers to a trade publication from 1914, “wherever the bookstore is located, in small towns, or large cities, he is an intellectual center that works for the benefit of the community. He is generally the guide and counsel to others as to their reading, their study, and improvement,” (58). This reigns true in Crown Heights where there is a big presence of children and an emphasis on youth education. Cafe Con Libros gets to inspire children to read in a progressive and accepting light. Just like the rest of NYC, Crown heights has a diverse population with the majority of the people being Black Americans. The placement of the bookstore is especially powerful since it is black-owned and is focused on radiating celebration of their culture.

image from yelp

Work Cited

Miller, Laura J. Reluctant Capitalists Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption. University of Chicago Press, 2014.