Best Black-Owned Bookstores in Chicago 2026
by Allison Yates
At Read & Run Chicago, we know indie bookstores are the backbone of the literary community. As an organization that aims to uplift small businesses and promote literacy, we’re in luck: Chicago is full of one-of-a-kind independent bookstores, including several Black and Black woman-owned bookstores.
These carefully curated, welcoming spaces provide inclusive, intentional atmospheres where BIPOC readers and Chicagoans of all backgrounds can read books by writers of color and attend author talks and community events to learn, grow, and celebrate the BIPOC experience.
Here are the best Black-owned bookstores to visit in Chicago in 2026.
Build Coffee and Books
Neighborhood: Woodlawn
Readers & runners with Build Coffee and Books co-owner Eve Ewing at a New Year’s Day run in 2026.
Build Coffee & Books was founded in 2017 by Bea Malsky and Hannah Nyhart, and later reopened in 2025 co-owned by Read & Run Chicago fan favorite author Eve Ewing, alongside trína reynolds-tyler and Andrea Faye Hart. Expect a welcoming cafe-style bookstore with a selection centering Black and BIPOC authors with events and experiences focused on building colective power.
And it’s not just coffee they serve—Build Coffee and Books was recently in the running for the City Cast Chicago’s Breakfast Sandwich Battle.
Burst Into Books
Neighborhood: Roseland
Burst into Books. Credit: The Chicago Tribune.
Though headquartered in the Pullman/Roseland area, you’ll find this nonprofit bookstore around the city of Chicago at pop-ups and public schools promoting culturally-relevant reading that highlight the brilliance of Black people.
Through robust literacy programming like the storytime, creative writing workshops, and the Words of Wonder Literary Festival, Burst into Books’s mission is “is to inspire young readers to discover the magic of books, share their own stories, explore meaningful conversations, and—most importantly—have fun along the way!”
Honey & Hue Bookstore
Neighborhood: Beverly
One of the newest additions to our city’s literary landscape has already made a splash. After running Brown Sugar Cafe & Books in Katy, Texas, Chicago native Raven R. White, returned to the Windy City to launch Honey & Hue, a space focused on community, literacy, and uplifting others.
Plus, no compromising needed—you’ll also find community events like R&B Yoga, adult spelling bees and stepping, making it a great way to still hang out with your non-bookish friends.
Semicolon. Courtesy of Allison Yates.
Neighborhood: West Town
This nonprofit bookstore and gallery space knows the power of reading to unite and inform. “Reading is a form of resistance against ignorance and apathy,” the website reads. The knowledgeable, friendly staff are the kind of people that love books as much you and could chat with you for hours about your latest reads—and in fact, that’s exactly what happened to me.
Semicolon is currently under renovation but you can still support by shopping online and following along for pop-ups and off-site events.
Da Book Joint
Readers & runners hang out with Black Girls Read Book Club at Da Book Joint in February 2025.
Neighborhood: South Shore
Owned by the delightful mother-daughter duo Courtney and Verlean, Da Book Joint focuses on growing literacy and positive engagement with youth. Collections focus on literature by Black authors, and from hosting brunches and author talks to partnering with Read & Run Chicago on our Book Club Run of Becoming in May 2024, the owners also value creating community. Previously based in Bronzeville’s Boxville, Da Book Joint joined forces with Stoviink Creatives in late 2024 to launch Pen & Paper, a new space in South Shore to inspire literacy, wellness, and creativity. In short, according to the owners, it’s a literary lounge. Sounds like our kind of cozy place!
Call & Response Books
Neighborhood: Hyde Park
Call & Response. Courtesy of Allison Yates.
This cozy Hyde Park bookstore carefully stocks its shelves with fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and more by writers of color, and they won’t disappoint. “Almost every book on the shelf is one I’d want for my own collection,” says guide Cynthia Okechukwu.
Owner Courtney Bledsoe opened Call & Response’s doors in May 2023, and it quickly became one of the most praised—rightfully so!—bookstores in Chicago and beyond.
Events include talks with authors like Hanif Abdurraqib, Natalie Moore, and many others. Last time I visited, Courtney walked me through several options to help me find my next best read tailored to my favorite past books.