Meet the new owner of St. Paul’s Black Garnet Books

Four years ago, Dionne Sims tweeted a dream into the world.

Sims had a vision for a Black-owned bookstore in Minnesota that would uplift books by people of color who are often marginalized in the literary world. At the time, there were no other bookstores like it in the state. Black Garnet Books opened in St. Paul’s Hamline-Midway neighborhood in 2022 with the help of crowdfunding and a $100,000 Neighborhood STAR grant from the city.

With that dream realized, Sims said she has turned toward other dreams: focusing on her writing and pursuing grad school. This summer, Sims shared in a post on Black Garnet Book’s Instagram that she was looking for a new owner for the bookstore. This fall, she sold the bookstore.

“I feel really good about it,” she said. “Something that I really feel strongly about is that you don’t have to do something forever for it to have been good during the time that you did it, or for it to have been worth doing.”

In addition to her social media callout, Sims reached out to Terresa Moses, a University of Minnesota professor and the owner of Blackbird Revolt, a social justice design studio. The two met through a mutual friend in 2020 and connected on a dog walk. Not long after, Sims volunteered to help pass out Blackbird Revolt merch at protests. When Black Garnet opened its doors, they began stocking Moses’ designs.

“She was the first person I thought of when I was like, ‘OK, I’m definitely going to do this. I’m definitely going to sell the store,’” Sims said.

It worked out. There is a strong connection between the work at Blackbird and Black Garnet, Moses said in an email.

“Much like the work I already engage in, there is a strong intersection of creativity, storytelling, and abolition,” Moses said.

Some things will stay the same: The bookstore on University Avenue remains Black, queer, and woman-owned. But new things are coming, too, as Moses works to build on the foundation that Sims created.

Next year, the bookstore will have a presence on both sides of the river, with a permanent Black Garnet Books pop-up at the new Blackbird Revolt studio in downtown Minneapolis, set to open in January. Moses said she plans to boost the bookstore’s community activations and events. For employees, they now offer full benefits and salary, with plans to add an additional bookseller in 2025.

“We are excited for Black Garnet Books to deepen its roots ... and continue being a space that centers Black and brown narratives,” she said.

Black Garnet Books is a special place, said Sims, who recently relocated to Illinois where she plans to focus on her Substack newsletter “Oh Dionne.”

“In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t really me that made it special,” Sims said. “It’s just the fact that people wanted it, continued to want it, and are hopefully going to keep it open by supporting it and supporting the new owner.”