If it’s Black Friday, it’s the day for DART’s annual Indie Bookstore Update!

! This year, Brooklyn takes the prize for welcoming three new locations, each one utterly different from the others on this growing list of shelters from the storm of addled and insensitive consumer spending that can take the fun out the holiday season. If you, dear readers, have also discovered something new in your travels, please send your info to peggy@ai-ap.com for the upcoming full-on 10th ANNIVERSARY UPDATE! Above: The Lit.Bar (above), 131 Alexander Avenue, Mott Haven, The Bronx, is the first and still the only brick and mortar bookstore serving the 1.4 million people and 10 colleges and universities of the Bronx 

The Twisted Spine, 306 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 

This new indie, which started out as a pop-up specializing in the macabre, a haven for horror enthusiasts, and a tribute to the chilling art of storytelling, materialized as a permanent brick and mortar location at 306 Grand Street in Brooklyn, NY in September 2025, not only as a bookstore, but also featuring a full espresso cafe with Devoción coffee & beer and wine bar.   

Gladys Books & Wine 306 Malcolm X Blvd, Brooklyn, NY

Opened in September 2025 in Bed-Stuy, this store is a Black lesbian-owned bookstore and wine lounge. It stocks titles focused on Black queer futures, romance, and resistance, and hosts events like literary supper clubs and poetry nights. Owner Tiffany says, "After 15+ years in tech — and too many nights wishing for a space where Black queer women and Black trans femmes could just be — I decided to create one. Gladys is named after my grandmother, a Black woman from Mississippi whose home was my first safe space Opening Gladys is how I plan to give back: by creating a space that honors this neighborhood's rich legacy while offering something new for the next generation — grounded in beauty, brilliance, and belonging."

BEM, 73 Lewis Ave, Brooklyn, NY 

The Davenport sisters say, "We’re two sisters--one an actor and writer and the other a creative producer and curator--who decided to fold our love for food and books and cultures of the African diaspora into a bookstore called BEM, a riff on our grandmothers’ initials. Honoring [their] legacy and those of Black folks and families across time and place is at the heart of BEM. We believe food opens a door to life, to sustenance, to love, to politics, and are thrilled to welcome you into our community as we explore it all together.

"What you’ll find here is but one expression of what we hope to do--we imagine growing into cooperative structures as our team expands, realizing the brick & mortar vision the pandemic interrupted, launching products in collaboration with artists and makers, and serving as a home for scholarship about foodways of the African diaspora."