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Women & Children First Sold to Two Staff Members
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Two employees have become the new owners of Chicago’s Women & Children First. Store founders Ann Christophersen and Linda Bubon have sold the business to store manager Lynn Mooney and bookseller Sarah Hollenbeck. In an announcement this week, Christophersen and Bubon said that, while they were “grateful and inspired by the surge of interested buyers” from all corners of the community, they were “delighted to be passing the store onto two of their very own colleagues — both literary feminists who are invested in the same mission that began the store almost 35 years ago.”
Before joining the staff of Women & Children First, Mooney worked in the book publishing industry for more than 20 years both as a freelancer and on the staff of several major houses, including HarperCollins and McGraw-Hill.
Hollenbeck is a Chicago-based writer whose essays exploring sexuality, gender, disability, and the perception of self have appeared in literary journals and blogs, including TriQuarterly, Dogwood, and In Our Words. Hollenbeck has also worked at Independent Publishers Group and StoryStudio, and as a bookseller at chain stores.
The new owners plan to rejuvenate the current space and to diversify the store’s events and programming “to create a ‘third place’ that physically and philosophically invites spirited, respectful dialogue about feminism—what it was, what it is, and what it must become.”
Jason Cox, associate director of the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce, said, “Women & Children First is an incredibly important part of the locally-owned, independent business community that has made Andersonville a national model for other cities and towns. We are thrilled that it will continue on not just as a bookstore, but as a vital neighborhood institution.”
Christophersen, who plans to begin her retirement in mid-August, will stay connected to the store through special projects. Bubon, who is only semi-retiring, will continue to work a couple of days a week at the store and to host its Wednesday morning children’s story time and monthly Women’s Book Group.