Sisterspirit
San Jose Bookstore Serves Women's and LGBTQ Communities
Story by Elizabeth Gonzalez

On the Alameda, in San José, there is a one of a kind landmark that you might miss if you didn't know it was there. Sisterspirit Bookstore is located in the front of the Billy DeFrank Lesbian and Gay Community Center and is a space that has been serving the women's and LGBTQ communities of the Bay Area for more than 20 years. It is one of only 20 remaining feminist independent bookstores in the country and the only one in the whole area -- having survived the invasion of large chain stores that leave a trail of independent bookstores out of business every place they open up. What makes the bookstore even more unique is that it is a non-profit organization led by volunteers.

Margie Struble has been witness to the infancy of Sisterspirit and its evolution through the years in the San Jose community. Her love of women's books and following the industry changes has helped her stay constant as a volunteer for 20 years. Struble worked as a nurse after having graduated from San Jose State. Since she was only working three days a week when she started she had plenty of time to volunteer.

The bookstore started out as a thesis project by four women at San Jose State who in Women's Studies who were researching women's collectives and utopias in 1983. Mary Jeffries, Marilyn Cook, Amy Caffrey, and Karen Hester's research led them to attempt to start a collectively run business of their own.

With the support of the Women's Studies program at SJSU the women began organizing coffeehouses at Jonah's Whale just off campus, inviting women musicians and selling drinks and snacks to raise money. Many lesbian artists performed at their coffeehouses before they became well known in the gay community.

They kept at this for two summers, until in 1986 the Billy DeFrank center was moving into a new building over on Park Avenue and asked the ladies if they would like to start their store in their center. That was their first storefront with all of three bookcases, an old-fashioned cash register, and a file box with index cards where they kept track of their inventory.   

The bookstore was started with the intention to promote women's culture in the South Bay and be a networking space to support local artists. The bookstore opened at the perfect time. “In those days lesbian women weren't that out and to say ‘women musician or artists' was like a euphemism. Mainstream publishing at the time wasn't publishing women's books and in the late 70's, women started publishing their own books. We had just passed through the heyday of the women's rights movements,” she recalls.

Margie says that Sisterspirit has been able to endure in the community and the changing book industry because, “We are all volunteers and we do fill a need in the community that originally people could not get any place else.” She adds, “Some people are intimidated by coming to a place like this for the first time. People will always be coming out and they are always glad to find a place where they can find books about coming out, or where parents can come to understand their child who has come out.”

With all the years that she has been with the bookstore and a part of the larger community she has also seen the landscape of San José change for the better. “Just the fact that the community center [Billy DeFrank] is in the middle of downtown signifies it is much more open and there is a lot less homophobia.” Within the gay community, she also has seen the changes over the years. Now there are many more transgender folks that are much more out and overall gay people are much healthier all around so that the bar scene isn't really the only place to meet people. There's not so much one place in San Jose, but small groups that meet up regularly. These groups are more isolated and sort of reflect the nature of San Jose in how it is so spread out.

The volunteers at the store are really a mix of younger and older people that works well, something you don't usually see in other places, says Margie. Currently, the bookstore is a bit low on volunteers and because of it they have had to close up shop two days out of the week temporarily, something that hasn't been done in 20 years.

Sisterspirit is a testament to another form of operating that is virtually unheard of in the Capitol of Silicon Valley, where it's all business for big profits or no business at all. There's much respect to be given to the endeavor that started out as an experiment by women who supported each other. They have succeeded for over 22 years through many moves and with many people coming in an out of their doors, sharing the leadership and guiding the direction.

The store is located at
938 The Alameda
San Jose, CA 95126
408.293.9372
www.sisterspirit.org