{"id":188509,"date":"2026-04-07T17:11:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/188509\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T17:11:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:11:44","slug":"hive-mind-books-looks-to-save-the-last-queer-bookstore-in-manhattan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/188509\/","title":{"rendered":"Hive Mind Books looks to save the last queer bookstore in Manhattan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"The\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Bureau of General Services\u2014Queer Division\u2019s space at the LGBT Community Center.<\/p>\n

Dashiell Allen<\/p>\n

For the past 13 years, The Bureau of General Services\u2014Queer Division<\/a> has been a beacon of community for queer book lovers at the LGBT Community Center, but the bookstore\u2019s future was thrown into doubt when its co-founders, Greg Newton and Donnie Jochum, announced in December that they were planning on moving away and closing down. <\/p>\n

Jules Wernersbach, who co-founded and owns Bushwick\u2019s queer literary hotspot Hive Mind Books<\/a>, jumped into action after hearing the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, that\u2019s the last queer bookstore in Manhattan, we can\u2019t let that go,\u201d Wernersbach told Gay City News. \u201cIt felt really, really urgent to not lose that queer space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hive Mind Books is now looking to purchase the store, which is located in room 210 at The Center. Hive Mind Books has raised more than $34,000 through GoFundMe toward a $50,000 goal by June 1 to acquire The Bureau, buy supplies to set up the caf\u00e9, help pay staff, and more.\u00a0So far, the feedback they have gotten has been overwhelmingly positive.<\/p>\n

\"JulesJules Wernersbach, Hive Mind\u2019s co-founder.Dashiell Allen<\/p>\n

After Bluestockings Cooperative<\/a> in the Lower East Side closed last fall, The Bureau became the borough\u2019s only bookseller with a primarily queer inventory. Other businesses, like the East Coast\u2019s first gay and lesbian bookstore Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop<\/a> and Womansbooks<\/a>, are now long gone to history.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith book bans<\/a> the way that they are across the country and trans rights being attacked<\/a>, it just seems like part of our mission is to keep queer and trans literature in circulation,\u201d said Wernersbach, whose first bookstore<\/a> celebrated its one-year anniversary in October. \u201cThis is the largest queer population in the country, and the thought that there wouldn\u2019t be a bookstore in Manhattan to serve them seemed wild, especially since Manhattan is so rich in queer history<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Wernersbach reached out to them, Newton and Jochum were more than happy to oblige.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that our missions align perfectly, this really is a dream come true for us,\u201d they said in a statement. \u201cWe want to ensure that Jules, the Hive Mind Books team, and the Bureau\u2019s team are set up for success.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"HiveHive Mind Books hopes to maintain the 13-year legacy of The Bureau of General Services\u2014Queer Division.Dashiell Allen<\/p>\n

After they leave at the end of April, the plan \u2014 as long as the sale is completed \u2014 is for the store to remain continuously open.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some changes will be coming. The store will be transitioning from a volunteer-based model to paid staff, and as part of their agreement with The Center, Wernersbach also intends to reopen its first-floor caf\u00e9, which has been closed for over a year. They had already been working on transitioning Hive Mind into a worker-owned cooperative, and would like to include The Bureau in the same model.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, they assured, they intend to leave the brand itself largely untouched, and hope to continue offering the programming it\u2019s been known for, including its book clubs, panel discussions, and readings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur job is to continue the work that Donny and Greg have been doing for almost a decade and a half and to not mess it up,\u201d Wernersbach emphasized. \u201cThey built something really special, and people really love it and love them, and it\u2019s a big responsibility to continue that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just like at Hive Mind, their goal is to open up the space to the queer community to browse, discover new titles, and meet friends, without feeling pressure to make a purchase. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Bureau of General Services\u2014Queer Division is on the second floor at The Center.Dashiell Allen<\/p>\n

The Bureau is an important place for Wernersbach personally, since it was the first bookstore they visited when they moved back to New York City in 2021. For the past two years, they\u2019ve brought Hive Mind to The Center\u2019s Rainbow Book Fair<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Center\u2019s chief operations officer, Jeffrey Klein, said the non-profit is proud to continue hosting the store.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when LGBTQ+ voices are being silenced and threatened across the country, spaces where our community connects, learns, and shares our stories are more important than ever,\u201d they shared in a statement.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of General Services\u2014Queer Division<\/a> is located inside The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St #210. Hive Mind Books<\/a> is located at 219 Irving Avenue in Bushwick.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bureau of General Services\u2014Queer Division\u2019s space at the LGBT Community Center. Dashiell Allen For the past 13…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-188509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-manhattan","9":"tag-manhattan-headlines","10":"tag-manhattan-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}