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The Champion, Thursday, January 7-13, 2016
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The leadership team at Charis Books and More and Charis Circle announced that the pastel The store features material reflecting “diverse and marginalized voices.”
Little Five Points building that house both is for sale.
Bookstore plots 'brave new chapter 7
by Kathy Mitchell
The small pastel building in Little Five
Points that now houses 41-year-old Charis Books
and More as well as its companion nonprofit, Cha
ris Circle, may pass to other hands in 2016.
The Charis leadership team, which includes
Charis Books co-owners Sara Look and Angela
Gabriel and Charis Circle Executive Director
Elizabeth Anderson, recently decided to put the
Euclid Avenue building up for sale.
“This means only that our building is for sale,”
Anderson explained. “It does not mean that Cha
ris Books is for sale or that the store and the Circle
are closing—we’re not. It means simply that after
looking at our work from all angles and consulting
with lawyers, real estate professionals and accoun
tants, we have decided that owning our building is
no longer in Charis’ best interest.”
Acknowledging the move is “tinged with some
anxiety or sadness” for those close to Charis, An
derson said she and others also are excited to be
“writing a brave new chapter of the Charis story.”
Charis Books has been in the Little Five Points
area during its more than four-decade existence
and has been at the current location since 1994.
“We love the Little Five Points area. There’s a lot of
creative energy here,” Anderson said of the district
that straddles the Fulton/DeKalb county line with
Charis on the DeKalb side. “It’s at the nexus of the
city. It’s just off Moreland Avenue, one of the city’s
main arteries and it’s near 1-75/85 and 1-20. If we
move physically, we want to still be where our cus
tomer base in Atlanta and in DeKalb County has
easy access to us.”
While moving physically is an option, that
may not happen, according to Anderson. “We’re
open to a lot of possibilities. We’re talking to a
wide range of people in the public and private
sectors. Someone may be interested in buying the
building and having us remain. If we do move, it
may be to a larger space or a smaller one,” she said.
Among the possibilities, she said, is partner
ship with a complementary business or institution.
In addition to books, Charis offers periodicals and other
materials not available in most mainstream bookstores.
“Someone with a coffee shop, for example, might
be interested in sharing space with us. In this ex
ploratory time, we have met with restaurateurs
and politicians, major arts organizations and city
planners, several different college and university
administrators, and many of our nonprofit and so
cial justice programming partners. We are work
ing hard to build a Charis that fits our needs and
[those of patrons], that honors our history, and
celebrates the city Atlanta is becoming,” Anderson
said.
What is important, according to Anderson, is
that Charis continues to be the unique community
institution that it has been since its inception. She
noted that for the past two years the Charis Circle
Board of Directors along with the leadership
team have been plotting “a new course for Charis
Books and Charis Circle that will allow us to con
tinue to do all of the things we do best.”
Charis Circle is inviting the community to
provide input as to what they would like Charis’
direction to be and has set up a website, Feminist-
Future@chariscircle.org, for that purpose. “Our
co-authors and our fearless readers, our donors
and our supporters, who have fought for Charis to
survive and thrive” are “partners in this story we
are telling together,” Anderson said.
She explained that Charis has been able to re
main in business in spite of competition from na
tional chains and from online booksellers because
it offers something most other booksellers don’t.
“Every community needs a place for people to
gather and talk about community issues. We don’t
just have book discussions and author visits of the
type you find at most bookstores, we host events
that allow us to come together as a community
and talk about what’s on our minds,” Anderson
said.
Its name derived from a Greek word that
means grace, gift, thankfulness, Charis calls itself
the oldest independent feminist bookstore in the
Atlanta area. Those associated with it point out
that both the bookstore and Charis Circle are
more than outlets for feminist thought. Both pro
vide space for “diverse and marginalized voices,”
including those of ethnic and religious minority
group members, members of the gay, lesbian and
transgender communities and others. In recent
years, Charis Circle has hosted discussions of
environmental issues, neighborhood transforma
tions, evolving approaches to children’s literature
and other topics.
“No matter what we do about the building, our
core values will not change,” Anderson said. “We
will continue to host and sponsor events that...
fight for a more just world.”