Hive Mind Books Needs Your Help to Save the Last Queer Bookstore in Manhattan!
Hive Mind Books and the Bureau have launched a fundraising campaign from April to June 1, 2025 to keep the Bureau open:
Donate here!
The Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, the only queer bookstore in Manhattan, is at risk of closing when the current owners move out of state at the end of April 2026. At a time when queer literature is under extreme censorship and trans people are being targeted by legislation that threatens their human rights, this space of queer community and culture must be preserved. We need it!
We cannot lose this queer space.
That’s where we come in. Hive Mind Books, Brooklyn’s queer independent bookstore and coffee shop, is making a bid to purchase the Bureau and continue stewarding the wonderful community and active events program the current owners have built over the last thirteen years. As part of the acquisition, Hive Mind Books would also reopen the cafe space on the first floor of the LGBT Center, which is the building that houses the Bureau.
From Bureau founders, Greg and Donnie: “As we prepare for a new chapter in our lives, we are thrilled that Hive Mind Books not only wants to keep the Bureau open, but also build on the Bureau’s rich history by linking it to the café in The Center’s lobby as well as to its bookstore community in Bushwick. We hope that everyone who values what the Bureau has done over the past 13+ years will chip in to enable the Bureau to continue serving local and visiting queers for years to come!”
But we can only keep Manhattan’s last queer bookstore open with your support.
In order to keep The Bureau open, Hive Mind Books must secure funding to significantly expand its staff and to purchase the business.
Our goal is to raise $50,000 by June 1. Will you join us with a donation?
Every dollar raised helps us keep the last queer bookstore in Manhattan open. Donations will immediately fund the following:
- Make an initial payment to purchase the Bureau
- Expand staffing for events, bookselling, barista work, and store management
- Transition the Bureau from an all-volunteer operation to a paid staff
- Upgrade the Bureau’s point of sale software to a modern system built for books
- Launch an e-commerce website for the Bureau
- Purchase all supplies and afford all set up for the cafe, including an espresso machine
A bookstore holds not only community, but also our queer history. We must continue to maintain the links between queer generations by keeping the doors to our literature open.
From the outset, the Bureau has served as a critical component of New York City’s queer cultural infrastructure. As an all-volunteer, independent queer bookstore and cultural center, the Bureau has hosted thousands of events, exhibitions, and workshops featuring countless queer authors, poets, scholars, artists, activists, performers, and other members of the global queer community, including Sarah Schulman, Kate Bornstein, Rumi Missabu, Edmund White, Jacqueline Woodson, Michelle Tea, John Keene, Emanuel Xavier, Christopher Bram, Pamela Sneed, Eileen Myles, Torrey Peters, Judy Grahn, and so many others.
The Bureau continues to be a much-needed queer community hub and an important space for gathering outside of bars and nightclubs. We cannot lose it!
Will you donate today?
Donate here!
Thank you for your support!!!
