UPDATE 11/23

We are so overwhelmed by the support from our community! We still can't believe we raised $10,000 in three days!!! We have decided to do a push goal of $15,000. These funds will cover our December rent ($1900) and will allow us to order tons of inventory going in to holiday, including stickers, pins, zines, and more from local businesses.

Thank you again for all your support! We appreciate you!! 💜🌿📚🐈

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Over the past two years, Heartleaf Books has established itself as a beloved, if not always profitable, co-op bookstore in Federal Hill, Providence. Established by siblings and librarians Mads Vericker and Caroline Vericker in 2021, Heartleaf has grown into Rhode Island's only cooperative/queer/community-owned bookstore. Caroline and Mads are still the co-op's only worker-owners, and run the business and store operations with the help of our 5-member Board of Directors: Kait, Kayla, Jen, Julia, and Erika. Full disclosure: we've never paid ourselves a living wage (usually not even minimum wage), and scraping by every month has become incredibly stressful. Mads plans to return to work full-time asap, which will help a lot, but....

We've reached a point where it's no longer feasible to keep the store open without some help from our community. We're having trouble fulfilling preorders, buying inventory, and are now behind on rent. Sales have been down 15% this year over 2023, and we've done everything we can to keep costs down while having to deal with rising service costs, book prices, and more, but we're drowning. We are asking for our community's help to pay some of our bills and keep us afloat through the holidays, when we will be in a better place to continue operations through the end of our lease in September 2025, at least. We hope to be around a lot longer!

Here's how the money will be used:

Taxes - $2,000
Vendors - $5,600
Rent - $1,900
Vet visit for Penny - $250
any extra funds will be used for future expenses, such as December rent, service fees, Penny supplies, etc

Thank you so much for your support! We know Heartleaf adds so much value to the community, and we know it's worth the hard work to keep the doors open! We love you!!

A future for Heartleaf Books

Help Rhode Island's co-op bookstore stay open!

Team Members