July 22, 2025
Sister’s Bookstore and Cultural Center has served the communities within uptown Manhattan for 25 years.
In uptown New York City, a Black-owned bookstore that has lasted for decades now worries for its future.
Owned by Janifer Wilson, Sister’s Uptown Bookstore and Cultural Center opened in 2000. Through the years, its offerings have expanded as it transformed into a community hub, with Sister’s dedicated to amplifying reading from and by diverse communities. Now, new challenges could lead to its closing unless a new audience turns the page.
The bookstore typically hosts events surrounding literacy and community involvement, such as workshops, book clubs, and sourcing from local authors. However, its sales have slowed down tremendously, leading Sister’s to fall several months behind on its rent.
According to Patch, the woes started during the pandemic, as gentrification, the rise of online book retailers, and other factors led to the decreased customer traffic. Wilson also believes political pressures amid an anti-DEI movement have also disrupted her bookstore’s stability.
“Our history is trying to be eradicated, between banned books and closing institutions. They are just trying to write us off, as if we don’t exist or we don’t belong here. So, I’m holding on — I’m holding on for dear life,” explained Wilson.
Currently, Wilson has opted to crowdsource funding to keep the bookstore open, while finding new ways to reach a wider audience of book-lovers. With the store’s motto of ‘Knowledge of the self is key to our growth,” she hopes that marketing to children will promote the necessity of reading to families.
“If you don’t know from whence you came, you’re going to have a difficult time moving forward into becoming who you are and finding what your purpose is,” the business owner added.
A #SaveSisters party will also take place July 25, simultaneously celebrating the bookstore’s 25th anniversary. Filled with games, live music, and food, the fundraiser hopes to save what they consider the only Black-owned bookstore in Manhattan.
Calling Sister’s a “labor of love,” Wilson hopes to keep the bookstore alive as a testament to its legacy and place within the Black community of uptown New York City.
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