hyde park: A bookstore focused on black liberation and community education is in imminent danger of being forced to abandon its hyde park storefront after 17 years.
frontline books and crafts has only a week or two to sell enough inventory and raise funds to stay in 5206s. harper avenue month to month, said founder sekou tafari. with business slowing and costs rising, the store has fallen a few months behind on rent and could be evicted.
You are reading: Frontline books and crafts
tafari wants to keep the harper avenue store through sales, he said. there’s a 15 percent sale on every item in the store, and staff will pack book bundles to sell at a discount.
a gofundme also aims to raise $50,000 to keep the bookstore afloat.
Frontline started over 30 years ago, publishing books and distributing titles by British authors to local black bookstores after Tafari moved to Chicago from London. the store sells books on Pan-Africanism, the Rastafarian movement, black history, metaphysics, and more.
the bookstore moved to hyde park from 75th street and cottage grove avenue in 2004.
after moving in, frontline’s monthly rent was about $900, tafari said. however, the store has expanded since its initial lease and its rent has increased, she said.
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“It’s a free market, an open market,” Tafari said. “These kinds of things are going to happen. If you can’t pay, you’re going to leave. that’s how capitalism works.”
The store has suffered from decreased foot traffic for much of the pandemic.
Like other Black-owned bookstores and businesses, Frontline received a boost as the Black Lives movement brought significant attention to Black oppression and empowerment. People were buying books like “The Philosophy and Views of Marcus Garvey” and “Decolonizing the African Mind” en masse as these topics dominated the national conversation, Tafari said.
But sales have dropped sharply since then and it’s become “a critical situation” for the store in recent months, he said.
tafari is doing everything he can “not to leave hyde park and not leave this space, because it has a long history,” he said.
frontline is the latest in a series of black bookstores that have operated out of the 52nd and harper storefront for more than three decades. found freedom, reading room and underground bookstores, the last of which now works in 1727 e. 87th street – preceded by first line.
Black bookstores, or “truebraries” because they are “no lies” there, play a critical role in teaching community members about themselves and their history, Tafari said.
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Growing up in the Caribbean, Tafari would read Eldridge Cleaver’s “Soul On Ice,” Bobby Seale’s “Seize The Time” and other black power classics from cover to cover at his local bookstore before buying a copy of his own.
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In addition to books, frontline, underground and similar storefronts provide “a service where people can come, merge, meet and have discussions” on issues that affect them, Tafari said.
if frontline leaves hyde park, “we would miss that part, because we love being part of our community,” he said. “we are an integral part of our community, we love our black community.”
only the harper avenue store is at risk of closing for now. top of the line books & cultural emporium in 6357 s. cottage grove avenue. at woodlawn will remain open. That location is “trying to keep its head above water, but it also needs help,” Tafari said.
The blue-chip publisher will “continue to put out positive, progressive books,” Tafari said, including “Conversations with White People,” a “very strong title” on race relations due for release in November.
To purchase books through the frontline website, click here. the harper avenue storefront is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. m. to 6 p.m. m. daily.
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