Now that we're in the 2025 home stretch, our collective is shifting from retail hustle to reflection. This was a tough year, on lots of levels, but our public messaging has mostly focused on political concerns rather than the difficult financial position we've been in since Hurricane Helene.

Thanks to strong community support and a grant from the Southern Power Fund, our co-op started 2025 with what we thought was a generous buffer. But between Asheville's slow recovery and worsening conditions for low and middle income folks nationally, we're seeing sales far below those of previous years—and we've burned through our reserves trying to bridge the gap. Our collective is still analyzing the situation, but it's clear that the Q4 turnaround we'd hoped for did not materialize, and we're now headed into late winter on thin ice.

We value transparency, so this post is intended to be a heads up that our project is increasingly precarious. We'll share more information in January along with an outline of how we plan to address Firestorm's financial sustainability. In the meanwhile, we appreciate your continued support and hope that you'll keep us in mind when you're buying books! ❤️‍🔥

#FeministBookstore #HurricaneHelene #FirestormCoop

Now that we're in the 2025 home stretch, our collective is shifting from retail hustle to reflection. This was a tough year, on lots of levels, but our public messaging has mostly focused on political concerns rather than the difficult financial position we've been in since Hurricane Helene.

Thanks to strong community support and a grant from the Southern Power Fund, our co-op started 2025 with what we thought was a generous buffer. But between Asheville's slow recovery and worsening conditions for low and middle income folks nationally, we're seeing sales far below those of previous years—and we've burned through our reserves trying to bridge the gap. Our collective is still analyzing the situation, but it's clear that the Q4 turnaround we'd hoped for did not materialize, and we're now headed into late winter on thin ice.

We value transparency, so this post is intended to be a heads up that our project is increasingly precarious. We'll share more information in January along with an outline of how we plan to address Firestorm's financial sustainability. In the meanwhile, we appreciate your continued support and hope that you'll keep us in mind when you're buying books! ❤️‍🔥

#FeministBookstore #HurricaneHelene #FirestormCoop

After Hurricane Helene, we promised ourselves that we wouldn't go through another disaster without a battery backup for our rooftop solar. Thanks to the folks at Footprint Project, we're on track to install 20kWh of battery capacity for our building this month!

So now want to pay it forward. On Thursday, October 9th, we'll be donating net proceeds from all sales in-store and online to the Feral Crust Infoshop in Davao, Philippines. This longstanding eco-anarchist project is a living experiment based on principles of mutual aid, cooperation and ecology. So buy a book (or two) and the donated sale will help to fund upgrades to Feral Crust's off-grid electrical infrastructure and rainwater harvesting systems!

https://firestorm.coop/catalog/new.html

#HurricaneHelene #MutualAidDisasterRelief #FeministBookstore #EcoAnarchism #Infoshop #FirestormCoop (- L)

After Hurricane Helene, we promised ourselves that we wouldn't go through another disaster without a battery backup for our rooftop solar. Thanks to the folks at Footprint Project, we're on track to install 20kWh of battery capacity for our building this month!

So now want to pay it forward. On Thursday, October 9th, we'll be donating net proceeds from all sales in-store and online to the Feral Crust Infoshop in Davao, Philippines. This longstanding eco-anarchist project is a living experiment based on principles of mutual aid, cooperation and ecology. So buy a book (or two) and the donated sale will help to fund upgrades to Feral Crust's off-grid electrical infrastructure and rainwater harvesting systems!

https://firestorm.coop/catalog/new.html

#HurricaneHelene #MutualAidDisasterRelief #FeministBookstore #EcoAnarchism #Infoshop #FirestormCoop (- L)

ProPublica and The Assembly have been reporting on the impact of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, and we know recovery is far from over.

If you’re in the process of rebuilding, we want to hear from you.
https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/hurricane-helene-rebuilding-aid-help-us-report?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#NorthCarolina #Hurricane #HurricaneHelene #HeleneRecovery #Helene #WNC

This weekend marks a year since Hurricane Helene poured into our mountains, creating both big C catastrophe and small C communism. To grapple with what we'd experienced, we created a Disaster Reading Group, initially focused on exploring Rebecca Solnit's "A Paradise Built In Hell." It was a wildly successful space, filling our bookstore to capacity for biweekly discussions. The group became a container for friendships forged in the chaos of last September alongside new relationships premised on a shared desire to process the worst, and hold onto the best, of the storm days.

Like other containers created for folks to find one another post-Helene, the reading group served as a launch pad for a multitude of organically organized activities, spaces, and dreams. In the new year, as we slipped from infrastructural crisis into political crisis, our group developed into a place to process the horror of watching fascism reassert itself within the US American body writ large, an anti-solidarity antithesis of what we'd co-created as storm survivors.

We know that Helene will continue to fall further behind us, with new storms looming. And while what we experienced will stay with us forever, it's time to wind down this particular space that was created for our grief and joy as survivors. The final reading cycle will, appropriately enough, return us to Helene and our own stories.

Whether or not you've attended in the past, you're invited to join on Monday, Oct 6th to discuss "Appalachia the Catastrophe," the final issue of the incredible Mergoat Magazine. Copies can be found at our shop or purchased through our website with a 10% discount using promo code BEHOLDEN. We'll be splitting the publication—replete with photos, poetry, art, and essays—into two sessions followed by a final potluck to send us off into the next adventure, no doubt full of both terror and unanticipated possibilities. We hope you can join us!

#HurricaneHelene #AshevilleStrong #MutualAidDisasterRelief #FeministBookstore (- L)

One week from today, we'll be hosting author Michael Holcombe for a presentation on his new book, "The Story of Asheville's Water"—the first history of our municipal water, from the 1797 incorporation of the city to post-Helene recovery.

Michael was Asheville's water resources director throughout much of the 1990s and set out to write "The Story of Asheville's Water" after the infamous municipal outage of December 2022. His work uncovers the remarkable degree to which Asheville is a city built on water, from its early beginnings to its promised future as a "climate haven."

This 45 minute presentation will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing. Full details can be found at https://firestorm.coop/events/3430-the-story-of-ashevilles-water-with-author-michael-l-holcombe.html.

#AshevilleWatershed#HurricaneHelene#ClimateHaven#WaterIsLife#FirestormCoop (- L)

One week from today, our post-Helene reading group is back with a very appropriate new book pick! Participants will be reading "Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead" by renowned scholar and activist Leanne Betasamosake Simpson.

New folks welcome! 🌊❄️💧

"Theory of Water" is a resonant exploration of an intricate, multi-layered relationship with the most abundant element on our planet—one that is shaping our present even as it demands a radical rethinking of how we might achieve a just future. Copies are available at a discount from our co-op and will be made available without charge to participants who cannot afford a purchase.

This series is co-facilitated by Lauren Miller and will include four sessions bisected by a potluck. Additional details and schedule can be found at https://firestorm.coop/events/3423-theory-of-water-a-disaster-reading-group.html.

#HurricaneHelene #MutualAidDisasterRelief #TheoryOfWater #AnarchistBookClub #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (- L)

One week from today, our post-Helene reading group is back with a very appropriate new book pick! Participants will be reading "Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead" by renowned scholar and activist Leanne Betasamosake Simpson.

New folks welcome! 🌊❄️💧

"Theory of Water" is a resonant exploration of an intricate, multi-layered relationship with the most abundant element on our planet—one that is shaping our present even as it demands a radical rethinking of how we might achieve a just future. Copies are available at a discount from our co-op and will be made available without charge to participants who cannot afford a purchase.

This series is co-facilitated by Lauren Miller and will include four sessions bisected by a potluck. Additional details and schedule can be found at https://firestorm.coop/events/3423-theory-of-water-a-disaster-reading-group.html.

#HurricaneHelene #MutualAidDisasterRelief #TheoryOfWater #AnarchistBookClub #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (- L)