WASHINGTON PARK — Verlean Singletary and Courtney Woods weren’t sure if their family-owned bookstore, Da Book Joint, would survive into 2024.
What a difference a few months can make. After Block Club reported on their decision to keep the store open, the mother and daughter team have been buoyed by an outpouring of community love, an appearance on the “Today” show and — most recently — a donation from South Side rapper Vic Mensa that will keep the lights on for a year.
Mensa presented Singletary and Woods with a $7,200 check last week through his cannabis line, 93 Boyz. The money will pay the bookstore’s rent at the Boxville marketplace, 330 E. 51st St. in Washington Park, through April 2025, the owners told Block Club.
Mensa, a native of nearby Hyde Park, excited the owners as he walked in and asked to conduct an interview, they said. After a conversation on the state of Black bookstores and the need for representation in literature, “he was like, ‘Well, we have a surprise for you,'” Singletary told Block Club.
“We didn’t know about the donation until he came in and he talked to us,” Singletary said. “I don’t even think I can put into words how excited and incredibly grateful I’m feeling at this time.”
With a year’s rent covered, Singletary and Woods can shift focus to expanding Da Book Joint’s inventory into new genres while offering neighbors more literacy programs, they said.
The financial relief will help the bookshop continue a monthly “books and brunch” initiative, where children can get catered breakfast and a book for $5, Woods said.
The store also plans to expand its lineup of kid-focused book clubs and start a Bronzeville Bucks program, which would reward local elementary school students for completing book reports with gift certificates to use at neighborhood businesses, she said.
“When he presented us the rent check, there were a lot of feelings of excitement and relief — it was definitely one of those moments where we really felt seen in our mission,” Woods said. “It really took the stress off of having [to handle] our biggest expense, which is rent.
“… We are able to be a lot more flexible. We have so many plans in the works, and we feel like we can definitely connect to our community a lot more by having that big bill of rent alleviated.”
A spokesperson for Mensa did not respond to Block Club’s request for comment. In an Instagram post, the rapper said a longtime supporter of his cannabis line reached out to him about Da Book Joint’s challenges. He decided to help because it aligned with the mission of 93 Boyz, which has sent books to incarcerated people in jails and prisons through Books Before Bars.
Da Book Joint, which specializes in books by Black writers featuring Black characters, was founded by Singletary in 2007. Woods, then in middle school, came up with the name.
Singletary ran the shop at 95th Street and Jeffery Boulevard for about two years before rising rents pushed the bookstore out, she said in January. The store focused on online sales and held pop-ups at local events for more than a decade before opening on 51st Street in fall 2021.
Singletary and Woods had prepared for months to announce Da Book Joint would leave Boxville at the end of 2023. Declining foot traffic at their store had put the business in a spiral, they said.
But as word got out about their plans to close, customers and loved ones pushed the owners keep supplying the community with culturally relevant books, they said.
Boxville’s owner, Urban Junctures, then offered to “help us with rent through the winter,” Woods said in January. That allowed Singletary and Woods some breathing room to stay open and plot out how to sustain the bookstore for the long haul.
As they’ve planned for Da Book Joint’s future this year, support has kept rolling in. The “Today with Hoda & Jenna” team — trailed by a crew of South Side supporters — recently surprised Singletary and Woods with a visit and a donation of $5,000 worth of books from Scholastic to the shop’s nonprofit arm, Options for Literacy.
The donation will support the nonprofit’s book fair program, which offers free and discounted books and school supplies, Singletary said.
“They all rushed in to let us know we are loved, we are respected and needed in the neighborhood,” Singletary said. “It was a really great morale booster that really helped us want to continue the fight.”
Just a couple of weeks after the “Today” show segment aired, Mensa strolled in the store with his own big surprise.
Beyond the check, Mensa’s support has also come with residual benefits. His fans have reached out and donated to the bookstore, while online platforms like rap and celebrity blogs and others on social media have spread the word about Da Book Joint’s existence, they said.
“We did receive that boost of promotion, publicity and love,” Singletary said. “We’re honored that is helping us continue on with everything we want to do for our community.”
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