Nestled between two brick buildings on the bustling Girard Avenue in Fishtown, Philadelphia, rests Harriet’s Bookshop. Crested towards the top of the store, drawing your eye as you walk past the numerous restaurants and cafes that are sprinkled around the Avenue, rests a black and white lettered sign with the shop’s name printed. The letters are sliced through with the blade of a machete, a proud and swift symbol echoing the power of the women’s stories that lay waiting for you in the shop. Peeking in to the store’s giant front windows you are greeted with a world of stories unlike any you’ve likely ever heard. There are stories of strong, independent minds navigating the world around them and still coming out stronger than ever with a new hunger to better the world around them, like the founder of the store herself. You can’t help but feel a pull deep inside you to enter and peruse the store, welcomed not only by the friendly staff, but by other customers and all of the authors on the shelves sat waiting to tell you their tale.

Images from Travel + Leisure, Harriet’s Bookshop’s Facebook, Phillymag.com, and Drexel.edu

Harriet’s founder, Jeannine A. Cook, a Drexel alum, writer, and educator, bought what was originally Ida’s Bookstore in 2020, rebranding and naming the store “Harriet’s Bookshop” after Harriet Tubman, someone who Cook believes doesn’t get their story to be told enough. In an interview with Travel + Leisure, Cook describes the book shop as, “kind of like a monument,” stating, “It’s kind of like a way for us to honor Harriet’s legacy, and also for folks to have dialogue around important issues.” Cook said that she felt this almost undeniable call to action that she needed to act on. While conducting her studies and living as a black female writer, Cook realized that there are countless authors sending their books out into the world like ships onto a vast sea, waiting to be picked up and explored. For this reason, the store holds mostly books written by female authors, with a specific emphasis BIPOC writers. Cook also works with independent artists throughout the city of Philadelphia, hosting events like live Blue Band music (pictured above and as seen on Harriet’s Bookshop’s official Twitter and Instagram), and rotating their selection of books on a monthly basis.

pHOTO FROM tRAVEL + lEISURE: ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY LUNDIN AND KAITLYN COLLINS; IMAGE COURTESY OF JEANNINE COOK

The store had only been open for a few weeks, six in total, before the Covid-19 pandemic swept through the nation, devestating Cook. This store had been a dream of hers, a dream to showcase literature that normally doesn’t get a second look in society. The store was goign to be a place for dreamers, a cultural hub, a warm hug for any artists that happened to wander through it’s doors. But would she be able to hold onto that dream while chaos and fear circled the whole nation?

Cook responded with a resounding “Yes!”

Undeterred by the universe’s attempt to test her, Cook laid out tables with books in front of her store every day for six whole months, based solely on an honor system for the people in the neighborhood. This gesture, allowing people to experience a taste of a life outside of their own four walls that they’d been trapped in for months was not one to be forgotten by those who passed by.

The community response to Harriet’s has been overwhelmingly positive, specifically surrounding the environment and sense of comfort it has given to the community. Cook told Travel + Leisure, “I’ve had folks that tell us that [Harriett’s] feels like a literary sanctuary.” The store itself is surrounded by other places serving as a celebration of life and culture, with cafes like Gilda nestled right down the block, Etka Indian Cuisine a little further down, Sunrise 2 Authentic Thai Food two buildings away, and even a crystal and mineral store named Rocky’s Crystals & Minerals just a skip and hop down the Avenue. Boutiques further down the street such as Delicious Boutique and Cree’Amore Boutique also contribute to the lively atmosphere of the small area, encouraging people to spend their free time walking down Girard Ave, popping into Gilda for a coffee, and perusing Harriet’s endless array of beautiful and profound books and female-penned literature.

Fishtown, the place where Harriet’s Bookshop calls home, is like a little slice of Philadelphia’s story unfolding right before your eyes. It’s got history oozing out of every nook and cranny, but it’s also gone through a pretty cool makeover lately. Artists, writers, and all sorts of creative folks are flocking here, giving it a fresh, new vibe.

When you take a stroll through Fishtown, it’s like stepping into a time machine. You’ve got rows and rows of super fancy old rowhouses with all their intricate details in the brick layering and molding on the outside and colors that have aged like fine wine, and then you take two steps right next door while sipping your coffee and you’re transported a hundred years into the future of the city, met with modern buildings that seem like they’ve been placed by hand to spice up the exterior of the neighborhood.

It’s a wild mix of old and new, just like the content of the books that line the shelves inside of Harriet’s. Tradition meets innovation here, and it’s a beautiful thing to see.

With such a bustling and diverse local community, it’s no wonder that Harriet’s has seen seemingly endless support from the local youth as well as groups historically underrepresented or seen in the community. Fishtown is mainly populated by young folks between the ages of 25-34 who either live alone or in double or triple households, the perfect demographic for young adult and adult literature written by all kinds of authors sending their stories into the atmosphere, as Harriet’s carries all kinds of literature, not just those written by women. Cook said, “”It’s not to the exclusion of anyone else, but in celebration of those folks.”

Despite the population of the city being predominantly people who identify one way or another as White or Caucasian, 79% according to Niche data, the community surrounding Girard Avenue and it’s diverse strip of businesses hopping from culture to culture as you meander your way down the street is strongly made up of those from minority groups. Support for the bookstore has been extremely strong and vocal, and through the lens of their active social media presence, you really get a sense for the love and community that is curated through this little bookstore in Philadelphia.

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Videos from the Harriet’s Bookstore’s Instagram, showing an improved dance piece in front of the store, and a musicians playing inside at one of the store’s “Book Crawl”s.

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