Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery was founded in 2019 by Danielle 'DL' Moore and is billed as Chicago's only Black woman-founded bookstore and gallery. It now operates as a nonprofit bookseller.
The shop has had a turbulent few years: it closed its River West location in January 2024, opened a Magnificent Mile store that summer which closed in January 2025, and reopened at its original 1355 West Chicago Avenue address in West Town on Juneteenth 2025, this time with a cafe added during the redesign. About 60 percent of the inventory consists of books that have been banned somewhere in the country, which tells you most of what you need to know about how the shelves are chosen. The store also stocks work from other Black-owned businesses, including Muse Coffee Studio.
Semicolon is best known for its ClearTheShelves program, which lets Chicago Public Schools students take books home for free, and in 2025 it was named one of Reader's Digest's Nicest Places in America. Come by the West Town shop for a book, a coffee and whatever is on the gallery walls.
Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery