Semicolon bookstore will go on after community steps up to save the beloved institution

Yahoo

01-03-2025

After Semicolon, the beloved bookstore in West Town, announced in January that it plans to close in April, an outpouring of community support persuaded the owner to give her dream another go.
Danielle Moore, 38, is the founder of Semicolon Books, a nonprofit, mission-based bookseller with the goal of bridging the literacy gap in Chicago and surrounding communities. Every dollar spent on books in the store goes back into the community through book giveaways, she said.
But Moore said it became 'difficult for us to exist.'
'We were at a point financially where we can either give up our mission and continue by acting as a regular bookstore, but that is not what I am in business to do, so we are trying to find the financial means to continue our mission in Chicago,' she said.
Semicolon never received any grants or loans to operate in its five years of existence, Moore said, as she has 'backed and carried the shop' herself. While she has applied for grants since opening in 2019, 'we have not gotten one,' she said.
'We've done a pretty good job of being able to run and exist based on the profit that we make, and if not, it comes out of our pocket,' she said. 'But we got to a point where we couldn't afford to continue that anymore.'
On Jan. 3, Moore announced on social media that Semicolon's last day would be April 26. Book lovers and patrons responded with comments about what the store means to them and offered ways to help, like volunteering and fundraising.
'I was crying reading the comments,' Moore said. 'People were saying that their child learned how to read in Semicolon, and it was mind-blowing to see how many people were sending us love and light. I had to try again. We had to try just knowing in that moment that our presence has really been felt in the Chicago community.'
Moore then decided to work on opening a coffee shop within Semicolon, which she hopes will attract more patrons to keep the bookstore in business. A Kickstarter campaign with a goal of raising $25,000 for the coffee shop was started in mid-February and reached its goal with more than two weeks left for the fundraiser.
The coffee shop, Junction Cafe, will be employee-owned, Moore said. Those awaiting the new addition can expect drinks and pastries named after authors and books. With the funds from the Kickstarter campaign, Moore said she hopes to add 'some very cool extras' to the space but did not reveal any details.
The plan as of now is to remain open as is until April 26, which is Independent Bookstore Day. After that, Semicolon would close for about two months for construction and renovations, Moore said. Ideally, she said, Semicolon would reopen by the Juneteenth holiday on June 19.
Last January, Semicolon faced a similar situation when the bookstore announced a closure of the West Town location at that time and a reopening that summer in Garfield Park. The move didn't transpire, Moore said, because she couldn't sustain the new location financially.
Moore said she named the bookstore after the punctuation mark, which is a grammatical representation of a sentence that could end but instead is moved forward. That is what the bookstore means to her.
Since opening, Moore said the small but mighty team at Semicolon has been able to give out hundreds of thousands of free books. The monthly goal is to give away about a thousand books, usually to elementary schools, middle schools and different children's organizations, or to have students come into the bookstore and clear the shelves themselves.
Moore's team includes four others, all with the same passion and drive she has to promote literacy.
Store manager Kate Carovillano, who started working at Semicolon in July, said she manifested a job working with marginalized communities in a way that was focused on literacy because she has a background in Spanish education.
'To see the positive impact on the community, whether it be the kids and students we are giving books to or providing a safe space for people within the literary community, it's been incredible,' Carovillano said.
While much of the work aims to get books in front of children, Moore said Semicolon exists to help anyone become more comfortable with reading.
Semicolon carries all kinds of books but focuses on titles by marginalized authors or authors whose books are not as often sold in higher numbers elsewhere, Moore said.
Courtenay Joseph has been a supporter of Semicolon since 2020, when she rediscovered her childhood love for reading that she said she had lost as an adult. After moving from the city to the suburbs in 2021, Joseph said she continued to make regular visits to Semicolon, even taking family and friends to her 'favorite place in the city.'
Semicolon is much more than a bookstore, Joseph said. 'It's about community,' she said. 'It's about a movement. It's about bringing people together to enact change and make the world a better place.'
The Semicolon community stand behind Moore for 'anything that she does,' Joseph said, because 'people love everything that Semicolon stands for.'
'Semicolon has built a community of supporters, of people who love them, of people who need them to exist and want to see them succeed,' Joseph said. 'All while staying true to who they are and what they stand for.'
A museum curator by trade, Moore said she has always been an avid reader and likes to say that 'books saved my life.'
'It gave me a version of escape,' she said. 'When you have hardship in life, it's imperative to know that there is a way to live another life, and books and the characters in books were able to teach me that.'
Moore faced a cancer diagnosis in 2019 and had to stop traveling for her work as a curator, so she decided to create the space she had 'always wanted' as a lover of books and community.
Semicolon is 'very laid-back, like going to your favorite aunt's house and she just happens to have a lot of different types of books,' Moore said.
'I wanted the space to be very welcoming and relaxing, with comfy couches,' she said. 'We like for people to just come and sit with us all day.'
She is also 'ridiculously grateful' that she was able to create a community through her love of stories and people.
'I love that I can be my authentic self and still have the community that we have,' Moore said. 'I have found myself really enmeshed in the Chicago community and getting so much joy out of that.'
Moore said she is excited for Semicolon's next chapter and hopes to continue to see the bookstore grow, not only in community but also impact.
'We can change our iterations of Semicolon and still be effective in our community,' she said.