It has been about 45 years since Ann Christophersen and Linda Bubon co-founded the Women & Children First bookstore in 1979. In its early days, the two were earning their English degrees at the University of Illinois Chicago. Christophersen worked as a lecturer at UIC, and Bubon worked as a waitress to support themselves and avoid taking money out of the business, Christopherson remembered.
When asked how it feels to have opened a store that has since become a feminist institution, Christophersen said she didn't exactly think about opening Women & Children First as an institution, but she's glad that "the institution is alive and well and continuing to serve the mission that Linda and I envisioned when we opened it." The fact "that it's going strong is very important to me," she told the Windy City Times.
This summer and fall, the store will celebrate its 45 years in business, Sarah Hollenbeck, one of the current co-owners of Women & Children First, told the Windy City Times. It may also commemorate 10 years since Hollenbeck and Lynn Mooney took over the business from Christophersen and Bubon in 2014. The store plans to host a summer celebration and another event in November for the store's actual anniversary, Hollenbeck said, adding that the store staff were in the early stages of party planning.
"It feels like a midpoint. It's our 45th anniversary," Hollenbeck said. For the store's 50th anniversary, "we want that to be a giant blowout … . It is the 10-year anniversary of Lynn and [myself] buying the store from Ann and Linda. So that is something we want to honor and note in some way."
Christophersen credited the American Booksellers Association with teaching them about the business skills they didn't yet have and connecting them with other business owners who shared their knowledge about marketing and other skills. The two opened the store with a business plan and a small amount of money, and they hoped to grow it quickly so as to eventually pay themselves a salary, Christophersen remembered.
"All independent businesses, the survival rate of businesses that open, there's a pretty high failure rate, and certainly the same is true of independent bookstores," Christophersen said. "So the first years were really hard because we were both working other jobs to support ourselves as well as running the bookstore.
During its decades in business, the store has weathered technological and societal shifts. In 1979, it wasn't common for small or mid-sized independent bookstores to be computerized, but they integrated computers into their business in the late 1980s, Christophersen said. "We always tried to stay on the kind of cutting edge in that respect," Christophersen said.
The store has always also served as a safe and inclusive space for the LGBTQ+ community and LGBTQ+ authors, and both Christophersen and Bubon are in the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame—as is the store itself.
Years later, the store's digital operations became crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early days of the pandemic, Hollenbeck and Mooney sent the staff home and worked to determine everyone's remote work routine, because they did not want to lay anyone off, she recalled. At that time, the store's website was "very clunky," and its online orders jumped from about less than 10 orders a week to hundreds per day, she said. The store had also planned to host two events in person, but it pivoted those events to virtual gatherings instead to protect everyone.
"The pandemic changed our thinking about community events and bookselling. How do we sell online? How do we still replicate the experience of Women & Children First on our website? And how can we still also offer excellent customer service?" Hollenbeck said.
In recent years, the store owners have made changes to its structure to reshape the business into "a more feminist workspace," Hollenbeck said. Among the changes were raising the staff wages and creating collaborative teams among the staff to manage booking events and social media, among other tasks, she said. The new structure "helps everyone get a little bit more rest and also feel more invested in what we're creating," she explained.
"When Lynn and I bought the store, I was the only person doing social media. I was the only person booking events. I was also doing a lot of the buying, the book buying. I was a publicist. I did all the marketing and advertising. That was all me. On top of just being an owner who does hiring, fire, all that stuff," Hollenbeck said. "Our staff really called us in and said, we are here. And a more feminist business model would be, as we're all more equally invested in the store and have more responsibilities and more achieved with a less hierarchical structure."
Upon buying the store, Hollenbeck and Mooney set out to attract younger feminists, a goal that she feels they've achieved. In the past few years, the store has also grown its science fiction section, which now includes a blend of "romantacy" (romance and fantasy) books.
Though some might consider such works as frivolous and not quite right in a feminist bookstore, adding these books to the store's selection is part of meeting shoppers wherever they arrive at feminism, Hollenbeck explained. Such genres also provide readers, especially readers of marginalized backgrounds, with stories that are comforting and provide an escape, Hollenbeck said. "If you find that comfort in a science fiction [book], fantasy novel, or wellness, that is good and that is healthy and that is feminist," she said with a chuckle.
"Day after day, Lynn and I will look around on a Saturday or Sunday, and the store will be packed with young people. It is becoming a hub for young activists and folks who identify as feminists," Hollenbeck said. "We're also seeing a broadening of who calls themselves a feminist and what that label can mean."
