This year, Asheville, North Carolina Firestorm Bookstore Co-op celebrated its 10th anniversary. The worker-owned and operated bookshop and cafe is committed to a not-for-profit model with earnings going to local community nonprofit groups and causes. If this sounds radical to you, it’s because Firestorm is an avowed radical bookstore and community center. But the shop is also a full service bookstore and coffeehouse that offers Fairtrade coffees, vegan and vegetarian food.

Firestorm Bookstore is currently at the center of a controversy over the shop’s support for a needle exchange program and distribution of opioid overdose reversal drug Naloxone. The co-op has been acknowledged for helping save at least 62 individuals from drug overdoses.

Seems like the kind of community bookstore and coffeeshop that deserves support.  I first visited the bookstore  a few years ago at their downtown location, but the next time that I’m in Asheville I will definitely visit Firestorm’s new location.