Philadelphia

Why it matters: Jeannine A. Cook opened this Black-owned Fishtown bookshop on 1 February 2020 and built it around a single idea – celebrating women authors, artists and activists in honour of Harriet Tubman. Six weeks later the pandemic shut the doors, and Cook kept it alive by moving the stock onto the pavement and selling on the honour system, then delivering books to Philadelphia kids on horseback. It worked: sister shops followed in Collingswood and Paris, while the original still stands on the corner of Girard and Marlborough. It is a small room, so go with time to talk to whoever is behind the counter rather than to browse in silence – open daily, noon to 6pm.

Why it matters: Giovanni’s Room opened in 1973 and is the oldest continuously running queer and feminist bookstore in the country – and since 2014 it has been owned by Philly AIDS Thrift, a nonprofit that funnels the takings straight back into HIV/AIDS prevention, care and housing across Greater Philadelphia. The 2026 grant round alone handed $404,557 to 33 local organisations, bringing the lifetime total past $5.6 million; the nonprofit bought the building in 2018, so the shop is not going anywhere. Come for the LGBTQ fiction and nonfiction – the best selection in the city – and stay for the secondhand records, clothing and oddities crammed in alongside. It sits in the heart of the Gayborhood at 12th and Pine; the monthly Philly Queer Book Club meets here at 6pm on the first Thursday.