Arise

[Now out of business, to be replaced by a similar store with a different name]

Arise Bookstore is one of the two left political bookstores in the Twin Cities, the other being Mayday Books which I reviewed in an earlier post. In the years I worked at Mayday Books, I noticed that there was somewhat of a friendly rivalry between the two stores. It might be different now, since Arise seems to change a lot over the years with a high turnover in volunteers, but the common notion was that Arise was more of an anarchist and environmentalist hangout and the Mayday catered more to a wide left community. I would go to Arise once or twice a year to support the store, out of solidarity, but the store community and its political focus wasn't my scene.

One bit of history I always found interesting, told to me when I worked at Mayday, was that Arise Bookstore was a split from the Mayday back in late 80s or early 90s. Accounts differ, but I've heard that the people who eventually became the Arise wanted a political program and be more than a leftist bookstore and community space. I've also heard that the Arise group wanted more organization in the store. Whatever the details, I think most of the Arise volunteers today cannot remember the details of the split. Today the two stores work together in complementary way.

In the times that I have bought literature from Arise, I was impressed with their radical fiction section. In the past their non-fiction selection was a little outdated, but in recent years I think their book ordering has improved.