Dual citizens

For Stacy Ratner and Becca Keaty, the prospect of opening a bookstore in the South Loop is cause for celebration. They each tear through about four books a week, and Ratner, who lives in the neighborhood, knows how much it needs a bona fide hangout—a bookstore with a café; big, comfy chairs; author readings; and book-club discussions. But not everyone will rush to their store, Open Books, when it opens for business at 1449 South Michigan Avenue in spring 2008.

About 53 percent of the metro area’s adult population have low or limited literacy skills, according to Literacy Chicago, and that’s where Open Books’ second story comes in. Ratner, 34, and Keaty, 28, plan to use the proceeds from the downstairs bookstore to fund a literacy program upstairs. Operating independently and with some help from established nonprofits like Literacy Chicago, Open Books will sell its donated books and use others for adult and family literacy programs.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel, we’re just putting spokes on the round shapes,” says Ratner, who founded Open Books with Keaty in May 2006. The goal is to offer programming seven days a week.

The two hatched the idea while working together at a dot-com and pondering their next career move. The more they researched its feasibility, the more Keaty says she was surprised by the prevalence of low literacy levels in Chicago. Friends and family with whom she shared her findings were too. “They’re flabbergasted,” she says. “There is still such a huge population at this low functional level.”

Low literacy in Chicago, not surprisingly, is also linked to poverty and family history; children whose parents do not have a high-school or equivalency diploma score poorest on reading tests and are more likely to drop out of school themselves.

“Our mission is to get the word out, especially to reading enthusiasts,” Keaty says. “We want to combine the two groups in a fun, relaxed location.”

Open Books’ address, vacant for the last 12 years, looks unassuming but was home to R&B label Vee-Jay Records in the 1950s and ’60s. “It was the Motown of Michigan Avenue,” Ratner says.

The partners closed on the building in December, financing the purchase with their own savings and help from friends and family. Because the building has been vacant, it needs a complete gut rehab that will take more than a year to complete. By the time the store opens, the downstairs will have comfy couches, old typewriters, painted furniture, mismatched rugs and floor-to-ceiling chalkboards. Upstairs will be seminar-style classrooms, a false fireplace, a café and overhead skylights. Ratner promises “it won’t look like any other bookstore in town.”

Ratner and Keaty have been collecting books since May, and so far they’ve filled four storage units and Ratner’s living room with about 25,000 books, about half of what they hope to accumulate before the store opens. Libraries and organizations that hold book sales have donated leftover books to the cause. Ratner and Keaty road-tripped to Minnesota this winter to pick up 2,000 books from a private donor.

“People can help now even though there’s no physical space yet,” Ratner says. “We need volunteers for picking up books, to help move stuff, write marketing materials and raise money.”

They continue to look for donations in all genres (although you can hold onto that obsolete 1989 computer-operating-system manual). They’ll come pick up your bounty, or you can arrange to drop off books in the South Loop by appointment. Open Books has applied for 501c3 status, so deductions will be tax deductible, and you’ll get an Open Books T-shirt for your troubles. And, fingers crossed, you can wear it to the grand opening next year.

For more about Open Books, or to donate, visit www.openbooks.org or call 888-851-0701.