Tubby & Coo’s is a Traveling Book Shop!
What is a Traveling Book Shop?
Like Sibling Dex in A Psalm for the Wild-Built or the roaming librarians in Upright Women Wanted, instead of having one permanent physical location where you must come to us, we have decentralized our bookstore to bring the books to you! We want to make sure that folks across the area have access to books from underrepresented voices, particularly queer books, especially during a time where so many are being challenged and banned and queer folks are politically under attack. We also want to bring our inclusive and safe environment everywhere we go! We’ve always been a mission-based store, and we will continue to be.
Tubby & Coo’s is a queer, liberationist, decentralized independent bookshop focused on uplifting underrepresented voices, building collective power, and demanding social justice. We create and curate pocket bookstores inside inclusive spaces with the goal of building and engaging community and providing spaces to imagine and create new realities.
Our values include:
- Belonging
- Liberation
- Justice
- Empowerment
- Empathy
- Solidarity
- Joy
- Collective Care
- Nonconformity
Imagining Radical Futures
We are working toward a post capitalist, post imperialist, post colonialist future where borders don’t exist and every person is radically empowered to live authentically. In our imagined future, every individual feels worthy, safe, secure, validated, supported, loved, and free of any and all imposed constraints, whether by others or ourselves. Our future is a place where everyone is able and encouraged to tell their own stories and where all voices are equally important, credible, and celebrated.
Our Locations
HI-BALLZ/Plant Ally Cafe
4901 Canal St., New Orleans, LA 70119
HI-BALLZ is a vegan café that houses Plant Ally, a harm reduction station. It’s a community space and queer-owned. Together, we offer the only vegan café and bookstore in New Orleans.
The Good Shop
1114 Josephine St., New Orleans, LA 70130
The Good Shop offers ethical gifts by local makers. Collectively, we create and sell products that are thoughtful, beautiful, and that make a beneficial impact for our community and the environment.
Request Our Traveling Book Shop
We create and curate pocket bookstores inside inclusive spaces with the goal of building and engaging community and providing spaces to imagine and create new realities.
We are selective about the spaces we choose to inhabit. It’s important to us to partner with spaces that share our values, which include trans, queer, and BIPOC liberation, building community, social justice and responsibility, being environmentally friendly, collective care, and deprioritizing colonial, imperialist methods.
Future Plans
Little Free Queer Libraries
We are also working on a plan to introduce Little Free Queer Libraries around town. If you or someone you know has an idea of a great place for a Little Free Queer Library, please let us know by filling out our interest form!
The Book Banned-Its
We’re working on a community program we’re going to call “The Book Banned-Its” where we will offer a list of currently banned and challenged books that we will distribute to anyone in the community to distribute to family, friends, Little Free Libraries, community libraries, etc. Is this program directly inspired by the badass librarians of Upright Women Wanted? Of course, and we hope to make them proud. This program speaks to our mission of increasing access to queer books! This program will require folks to purchase books that we will then give away in the community. Stay tuned to our website and social media for more information, and we hope you become a Book Banned-It with us!
Sustaining Member Program
To recognize any of these future plans, we will of course need the resources! We can’t do any of this without you, our loyal customers and community. So we are also in the process of setting up a Sustaining Member Program where you’ll be able to not only help us keep doing what we’re doing, but also help us realize these amazing future plans! Community investment in our mission is important to us, and by becoming a sustaining member, you’ll get great perks and the potential to both curate collections for us and have input into certain business decisions. Stay tuned to our website and social media for more information and to hear when we announce our new program.
