Spartacus is moving and you can help! After more than a year of searching, Spartacus Books has found a new location and will be moving to 101-1983 Commercial Drive! We plan to open in the new location in February 2022 and will be closed at our Findlay St location from January 23rd onwards. We can’t wait to welcome you to our new space and will share details about our reopening as they are available.
For context, in October 2020, we learned that the building at 3378 Findlay Street that we’ve called home since 2014 had been sold. We were already in a precarious lease situation and had been looking for a new space, but in the hellscape of Vancouver real estate finding a new home for Spartacus Books has not been easy.
But! As we say in our Basis of Unity, “Despite the odds being against us, we understand that the struggle is continuous, and we persevere.” This fall, the new space at 1983 Commercial caught our eye due to its location (just north of 4th and Commercial), size, accessibility, and (we could barely believe it) affordable price! It was the first space we found that would allow us to continue our 48-year tradition of being not just a bookstore but also a community space.
However, this new location has a major drawback–it is neighbours to the Grandview-Woodland Community Policing Centre. We took a lot of consideration when choosing whether to move to this space, and did a lot of work to hopefully mitigate any threats this might create. We are interested to hear from community members who have feedback on potential threats or mitigations that you would like us to consider as well!
spartacusbooksThat said, we are excited about our new home on the Drive, and hope you will be too. As we get ready to move in less than a month, we need some help from our friends. We are currently looking for:
- Boxes to pack up all our stuff.
- People who can help us pack.
- People with vehicles who can drive items from the old store to the new location.
- Donations to help cover moving costs – https://fundrazr.com/d1vjtb (renting a moving truck to move our shelving, printing a new sign for the store, paying for repairs that require a licensed contractor, purchasing furniture for the new space, etcetera)
- People with skills to help with repairs in the new space (in particular licensed carpenters, plumbers, or electricians — please reach out and we can talk about payment too)
- Snacks, support, and kindness to keep our energy up throughout the move!
If you can help with any of the above, please drop by 3378 Findlay to let us know, or contact us.
We would also appreciate it if you can please hold on to any book donations for us until we are settled into the new space — we can’t process them right now and would rather not move them too!
Love, solidarity & gratitude from all of us here at Spartacus Books <3