Instead, around 80 shut down, and only 41 went out of business in 2021. Hill and others had feared that hundreds of member stores might close in 2020. The new books she keeps in stock focus on social justice and the environment, among other issues.ДЄfter initial worries that the pandemic would devastate book sales, publishers have recorded strong profits in the past two years and independent sellers have endured. вЂњI wanted to build a bookstore that welcomed people from all of these different segments of our community,вЂќ she said. She decided to start a store that would offer mostly used books, and otherwise reflect the economic and ethnic diversity of Ossining. She had been looking through her bookshelves and began thinking about how sustainability in clothing could apply to what she reads. In Ossining, New York, Amy Hall is a vice president at Eileen Fisher who says her work in fashion inspired her to open Hudson Valley Books for Humanity. вЂњAnytime I am having a conversation with someone, I am giving book recommendations.вЂќ вЂњI have dedicated my life to knowledge sharing,вЂќ she says. In Locust Grove, Georgia, Erica Atkins was a college teacher and trainer who, while recuperating from surgery, had a vision - a divine one, she believes - that she should open a store, what is now Birdsong Books. Sonyah Spencer works as a consultant to help finance The Urban Reader in Charlotte, North Carolina, a store focusing on African American books that she opened in part because of the Black Lives Matters movement and her concern about a rise in book bans. Like Romani, many new owners had previous careers, or still have them on the side. вЂњThe rise in BIPOC stores is a big change for us,вЂќ Hill says. The ABA, long predominantly white, established a diversity and inclusion committee last year after board president Jamie Fiocco acknowledged in June 2020 - in the wake of George FloydвЂ™s murder - that the association had not done enough to вЂњbreak down barriers to membership and service for Black, indigenous and people of color.вЂќ in San Diego to Yu and Me Books in New York CityвЂ™s Chinatown, from Modern Tribe Bookshop in Killeen, Texas, to Socialight Society in Lansing, Michigan.

Those stores range from Libelula Books & Co. But a substantial number of additions, well over 100, are stores that have opened over the past year, dozens of them owned by people from a wider variety of racial and ethnic groups. Hill attributes some of the rise to owners who delayed renewing their memberships early in 2021, reflecting uncertainty about the pandemicвЂ™s impact.

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