The Future of Queerish: Closure of Our Brick-and-Mortar Store

There’s no really easy way to say this but I have made the difficult decision to shut the brick-and-mortar store for The Queerish Bookshop.

I created the bookshop out of a strong passion to bring to life a physical queer space for the community in Darlington and the North East, but multiple factors have led to my decision to close the physical store.

As mentioned in a previous post, I have been juggling self-employment with traditional employment for years now and my life is quite unbalanced and stressful as a result of this.

Equally, while the space has been managing to cover its overheads thanks to your support, most days the bookshop is quiet. I didn’t know when I started how the shop would be received and I’m honestly chuffed with the results, but the reality is the space can’t be sustained with the lack of footfall/tourism a small town like Darlington gets. Not to mention we can’t compete with the prices the chain stores and conglomerates offer.

Given our main value is community, I’d rather focus my energy on projects I believe have greater strengths and longevity with the community, such as The Queerish Book Club.

I wanted to say a massive thank you for supporting Queerish, and especially to those who have volunteered their time to keep the space open. This past year and a bit have been an absolute blast and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m so proud of what I’ve achieved with the shop and I’m looking forward to the next phase of Queerish (whatever that may be).

With the bookshop closing, we will only be open on Saturday 11am to 5pm, and Sunday 11am to 4pm throughout January and February (or until we have sold out of our stock).

There is a 30% sale both in-store and online on all of our new products. The 30% discount is automatically applied at checkout. Postage is £4.50 and orders will be posted any day between Monday to Friday each week.

If you have any vouchers, they can be used on our discounted goods. Any outstanding amounts will be refunded at the end of February.

The remainder of our Pay-it-Forward tags will be donated to a worthy local cause that will be decided once the shop is closed.

The Queerish Book Club will meet in the bookshop on Monday 27^th January at 7pm to discuss The Jasmine Throne. This will be the last book club to be held in the bookshop as in February there will be a pause while I focus on the logistics of closing the store. We still have spaces left and you can book your free seat here.

The Queerish Agenda will also be taking a pause and I will only contact you if there’s anything important to update you on regarding the bookshop.

The Queerish Book Box will continue for our Time Traveler's themed box (that I will be releasing the information for shortly) but after this box I will be taking a break to think about my next steps.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me and I'll get back to you when I can.

Thanks so much again for supporting Queerish.

Much love,

Megan 🧡