A Room of One’s Own, Madison’s independent, feminist bookstore, has weathered many storms.
It’s been around since 1975, occupying a space on West Johnson Street before moving to its current, larger location at 315 W. Gorham in 2012. But when it opened, it was a long shot for success, one of its owners said. State Street back then was made up of pizza joints and beer bars — no coffee shops and certainly no feminist bookstores.
The store was the brainchild of five young women — UW-Madison students who wanted a space that “took women seriously,” as Sandi Torkildson puts it.
“We got very excited about feminism, and we learned there were these bookstores popping up,” Torkildson, who has been an owner of the shop since it started 42 years ago, said. “But [in Madison] there wasn’t a place that we could go after we got excited about things in class and just sort of talk about it, without it being a pickup joint.”
So, despite having little experience with business, they “decided to just do it.” They raised $5,000 from people in the community and opened the store.
42 years later, it still exists, largely due to the loyalty of its customers. Community members supported the store when it struggled during the economic downturn of 2008, propelling it to such great success that it was able to relocate to a larger location.
That loyalty extends to UW-Madison faculty. Many students, especially in the humanities and social sciences, may have noticed that a number of professors encourage classes to buy their books at A Room of One’s Own, rather than at the University Bookstore or online.
The bookstore has worked closely with UW-Madison faculty since it opened, purchasing the necessary textbooks for classes, especially in the English and Gender and Women’s Studies Department. In fact, according to Torkildson, the store timed its 1975 opening to correspond with the inauguration of UW-Madison’s Women’s Studies Department.
Professors like the store for two main reasons: They appreciate that it is still community-oriented and locally-owned, in a time when many bookstores have been eaten up by the rise of the internet, and they want students to see what a feminist store has to offer, in a place where there are few.
Dr. Janet Shibley Hyde, a professor in the Psychology Department, says she encourages her students to go to A Room of One’s Own as “a small way of throwing business to a small, local bookstore.”
“Small, independent, local bookstores are disappearing from the American landscape, yet they contribute so much,” Hyde said. “They are being forced out by large chains and online sales.”
But Hyde also thinks there is value for students in going to the store for its unique selection.
“Students can learn a lot from going to a feminist bookstore and seeing what it has to offer,” Hyde said. “What you see on the shelves there is unlike any other bookstore.”
But A Room of One’s Own won't be under the same ownership forever. Torkildson and co-owner Nancy Geary announced in 2016 they are looking to sell the store, although they said they would be willing to search for years in order to find the perfect buyer.
Over a year later, Torkildson says they’re “still working on that.” For now though, they’re focused on providing students and community members a place where they can “find things that [they] never knew existed.”
“We have that desire to continue that aspect of bookselling that does engage people in a different way, a way the internet really can’t,” Torkildson said. “Nothing is the same as browsing in a bookstore and finding things.”
UPDATE Sept. 26 11:26 a.m.: This post was updated to provide additional clarity.
