The book biz: in Toronto, a women's bookstore beats the odds armed with committed politics and a savvy business plan.(feature)

At the Toronto Women's Bookstores 32nd anniversary party, there's free barbeque in the backyard and a line around the block. On the eighth day of a heat wave that's blanketed the city with smog, the joint is packed with customers chatting, fanning themselves and chowing down on burgers, salads and iced tea.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

It's no small feat for any women's bookstore, not to mention one that's already survived one firebombing (back when it was below an abortion clinic) and faced down an attempted post-9/11 boycott because the store carried "End the Occupation of Palestine" buttons. But there's something else you notice as you look around the room: 9 of the 12 staffers--many of them rocking "Bookstore Babes" T-shirts--are women of color. Instead of a "Women of Color" shelf, the bookstore has a wall neatly divided into brimming shelves labeled "African-Canadian," "Caribbean," "South Asian" "First Nations," "Latina," and "Arab." They manage to pull off 1,200-person events with sliding scale tickets and free childcare. Staff salaries start at $12 (or about $10 in the U.S.) an hour and get health benefits, and last fall, they were voted Best Bookstore in Toronto by NOW, the city's free weekly.

How do they do it, when other women's bookstores are going bust and still being run mostly by white folks?

Boom, Bust, Rebirth

We all know the sad story about feminist bookstores. According to Feminist Bookstore News (which itself went under), between 1997 and 2001, 30 percent of its member stores have closed. Many have shut down since. And it's not just the bookstores--presses have suffered, too. In the mid-'90s, independent feminist and queer presses like Press Gang, Firebrand or Kitchen Table were publishing lots of new books a year, many by queer women of color. By 2001, all four of those presses had closed shop. (Firebrand has since re-opened with a new owner.)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]