3/50 Project: Spartacus Books

We've posted before about the 3/50 Project to support local businesses. We'd love it if Green Earth Organics' members would send us information about their favourite local, independently-owned stores and restaurants. If you would like to share your hidden gem, please email info@greenearthorganics.com with about 200 to 300 words, including their address and their website if applicable, and let us know what name you'd like on the article. We deliver as far out as North Vancouver, Abbotsford, Maple Ridge, and all points in between, so please feel free to share your favourites outside of Vancouver too.

Spartacus Books by Alex (a Green Earth Organics member and Spartacus Books volunteer)

Spartacus Books is a non-profit, volunteer, and collectively-run radical bookstore and resource centre in Vancouver. It is the only one of its kind in the city. Located right on the edge of Vancouver's Eastside, Spartacus sells new and used books, zines, magazines, comics, CDs, DVDs, T-shirts, patches, pins, journals, calendars, and cards. Spartacus books is one of the longest running collectively-run bookstores in North America, having been open (in three different locations) since 1973. It is currently located at 684 East Hastings Street.

Spartacus is a "radical bookstore", specializing in socialist, anarchist, womyn's studies, queer studies, and political theories, alongside with a large selection of fiction, with special items you won't find in your average chain bookstore. However, they are not limited to the above, as they also carry poetry and plays, ecology, labour and economics, books for children and parents, film and media studies, health and nutrition, world religions and spirituality, and several more.

The bookstore is often used for events such as movie nights and book releases. Spartacus has been described over the years to be the nerve centre of alternative culture in Vancouver, where various organizations hold meetings. Groups that have used the space for meetings throughout the years include the free school movement, Vancouver Indymedia, cooperative housing, the local chapter of Industrial Workers of the World, and, more recently, the Olympic Resistance Network. There are also some computers connected to internet and running free software in Spartacus Books (provided by Freegeek), which can be used for free.

In honour of Mayday, Spartacus Books is doing a celebratory sale from April 24th to May 2nd. Come and benefit from their selection of loonie books and discounts of 40% off any used book, and 10% off anything else. Or just come by to share a coffee and some thoughts with them, and maybe take out some books or zines from their library. This is also a good time to renew your membership ($15 for 10% off everything all year long)!