Shelf Life Books employees (from left) Smokey Powers, Neda Massalha, Athena Palmer, James de la Rama. (Courtesy United Food & Commercial Workers)
After an ownership change and rebrand in recent years, a long-running local bookstore is embarking on yet another new chapter – as a unionized workplace.
The five employees at Carytown’s Shelf Life Books, formerly known as Chop Suey Books, have formed a union. They hope to kick off contract negotiations with the store’s owners in the coming days, according to Shelf Life employee Athena Palmer.
The store’s workers hope that by unionizing, they’ll strengthen the business and secure their employment amid wider trends in the bookseller industry, Palmer said.
“Indie bookstores can be vulnerable, with the rise of Amazon and dropshipping and everything that takes business away from us. The more voice we have in the store the more successful it is, and we’ve seen that time and time again,” Palmer said. “We want the store to be here in 10, 15, 20 years and we felt having a union would lend itself to that success.”
Palmer said that as far as the Shelf Life employees know, they’re the first Richmond bookstore to unionize.
Palmer said that the store’s workers had discussed unionizing for a couple years and in more recent months reached out to representatives of the Local 400 branch of the international United Food & Commercial Workers union, under whose umbrella the Shelf Life union operates.
Early discussions about unionizing came out of conversations among workers about the mark they want to leave on Shelf Life, said Palmer, a full-time employee who has worked at Shelf Life for two and a half years.
“One of the full-time employees is moving on and we were thinking about what we want to leave behind at this store … that’s what spurred this. We want to, and I think it’s true for the people who are staying like myself, we want to give future employees at this bookstore the security of a union,” Palmer said.
The local effort was also inspired by the efforts of employees at Washington, D.C., bookstores Politics and Prose, and Solid State Books, which have unionized and secured contracts.
The Shelf Life employees shared their plans to unionize with store owner Berkley McDaniel in late January. McDaniel voluntarily recognized the union and Palmer said the store already had a pro-union stance.
“We talked a little about why we wanted to do this, handed over the cards and got back to work to open the store,” Palmer said. “Unions and support for unions is something the store has been vocal about. The store as a whole has been supportive, so I think when it came around it wasn’t a surprise.”
McDaniel, who owns Shelf Life with his wife, said in a statement to BizSense that he welcomed the union that has established itself at his store.
“We want Shelf Life Books to radiate positive energy, both internally among staff and externally in the community. We look forward to working through the union to create the best possible environment for upholding our values,” McDaniel said in an email.
Next up are contract negotiations, in which the workers and their employer will hash out a formal agreement regarding terms of employment, pay, benefits and other topics.
Staff from the Local 400 of the United Food & Commercial Workers helped the Shelf Life union organize and will assist the local group during contract negotiations. The Maryland-based branch of the labor organization represents 35,000 workers in retail, grocery, food processing and other industries in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee.
The creation of the union at Shelf Life comes as the latest of several changes in the last few years at the bookstore, which is located at 2913 W. Cary St. and has operated for more than two decades. Original owner Ward Tefft sold the store, then still called Chop Suey, to the McDaniels in 2021. The McDaniels changed the name to Shelf Life a year ago.
Shelf Life Books employees (from left) Smokey Powers, Neda Massalha, Athena Palmer, James de la Rama. (Courtesy United Food & Commercial Workers)
After an ownership change and rebrand in recent years, a long-running local bookstore is embarking on yet another new chapter – as a unionized workplace.
The five employees at Carytown’s Shelf Life Books, formerly known as Chop Suey Books, have formed a union. They hope to kick off contract negotiations with the store’s owners in the coming days, according to Shelf Life employee Athena Palmer.
The store’s workers hope that by unionizing, they’ll strengthen the business and secure their employment amid wider trends in the bookseller industry, Palmer said.
“Indie bookstores can be vulnerable, with the rise of Amazon and dropshipping and everything that takes business away from us. The more voice we have in the store the more successful it is, and we’ve seen that time and time again,” Palmer said. “We want the store to be here in 10, 15, 20 years and we felt having a union would lend itself to that success.”
Palmer said that as far as the Shelf Life employees know, they’re the first Richmond bookstore to unionize.
Palmer said that the store’s workers had discussed unionizing for a couple years and in more recent months reached out to representatives of the Local 400 branch of the international United Food & Commercial Workers union, under whose umbrella the Shelf Life union operates.
Early discussions about unionizing came out of conversations among workers about the mark they want to leave on Shelf Life, said Palmer, a full-time employee who has worked at Shelf Life for two and a half years.
“One of the full-time employees is moving on and we were thinking about what we want to leave behind at this store … that’s what spurred this. We want to, and I think it’s true for the people who are staying like myself, we want to give future employees at this bookstore the security of a union,” Palmer said.
The local effort was also inspired by the efforts of employees at Washington, D.C., bookstores Politics and Prose, and Solid State Books, which have unionized and secured contracts.
The Shelf Life employees shared their plans to unionize with store owner Berkley McDaniel in late January. McDaniel voluntarily recognized the union and Palmer said the store already had a pro-union stance.
“We talked a little about why we wanted to do this, handed over the cards and got back to work to open the store,” Palmer said. “Unions and support for unions is something the store has been vocal about. The store as a whole has been supportive, so I think when it came around it wasn’t a surprise.”
McDaniel, who owns Shelf Life with his wife, said in a statement to BizSense that he welcomed the union that has established itself at his store.
“We want Shelf Life Books to radiate positive energy, both internally among staff and externally in the community. We look forward to working through the union to create the best possible environment for upholding our values,” McDaniel said in an email.
Next up are contract negotiations, in which the workers and their employer will hash out a formal agreement regarding terms of employment, pay, benefits and other topics.
Staff from the Local 400 of the United Food & Commercial Workers helped the Shelf Life union organize and will assist the local group during contract negotiations. The Maryland-based branch of the labor organization represents 35,000 workers in retail, grocery, food processing and other industries in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee.
The creation of the union at Shelf Life comes as the latest of several changes in the last few years at the bookstore, which is located at 2913 W. Cary St. and has operated for more than two decades. Original owner Ward Tefft sold the store, then still called Chop Suey, to the McDaniels in 2021. The McDaniels changed the name to Shelf Life a year ago.
First, excellent timing by Tefft. Thank heavens for a unionized book store! Employees no longer forced to give more than 3 recommendations at a time. No longer taxed at the end of shift with having to restack 5 or so books that buyers had a change of heart about at the register. No more grueling away organizing bookmarks at the impulse buy rotating display stand! Upton Sinclair documented more horrors in the book selling trade, but I’ll spare the gentle readers here.
I’d rather, and do, give my book buying $ to Bezos and his ex.
Top 5 Comment of the Year. Coal Miners, Meat Packers… introverts-unite.
Stunning…good luck with that. A short shelf life on the horizon.
So let me get this straight. A brick-and-mortar book store thinks that forming a union is going to extend the life of the business 15 or 20 years? Yeah because time and history has showed that employees unionizing at a small, archaic business in a dying industry does wonders for their lifespan. Geez why didn’t Blockbuster Video think of this?
I just spit my coffee out I laughed so hard. Ahahaha.
Naivete is not in short supply- on both sides of the issue…They better start slinging a whole lot more books.
I did think this article was satire at first. Gave me a good laugh though regardless. This is a slap in the face of why real unions actually exist.
What is a real union?
It really is sad. Unions for the trades tend to be a good launch pad for many workers in those trades. Those unions train their workers, get them their certifications and it contributes greatly to a skilled workforce. Then in Right-to-work states, the most entrepreneurial employees move on to their own small businesses. This can suppress wages, but building costs in places like Virginia or South Carolina, right-to-work states, are lower than that of Illinois, Maryland, or Washington. There are other variables at play like building codes and materials costs, but labor cost drives the price of everything higher in… Read more »
The reason why Unions are needed is that workers have to deal with the cost of living and working conduction. The 1926 Movie Metropolis is a good moving showing what happens to workers when it’s a one sided ed relationship with bosses.
Not getting paid enough? Need to find an in-demand trade. People do it all the time — become an echo-cardiologist or something.
Yes, I am from NYS and trades unions monopolies were a real bane on not only anyone with a building but the entire economy.
Wonton would be ashamed.
Nemesis? Get a life
Our nation’s workforce was quite literally founded on indentured servitude and slavery.
If Bezos is getting my money whose teet is actually being suckled?
You don’t even know the direction of money flow. Unsurprisingly.
What are the odds we have a post by someone named Guff MacGeorgian being responded to by someone named George MacGuffin? Talk about hard to follow.
The kids are alright. Instead of making fun of them, what if we just learned something from them. Plans of all different types work out and don’t work out. We all have dreams and ideas and sometimes they pan out sometimes they don’t. When it comes down to it, every venture is completely made up and could fail. And every dream could succeed. I find it interesting that one of the implications is how much these employees care about and want to invest in the future of the store. I would like to hear more about that. For a generation… Read more »
I think it tends to be the young who need to learn.
Yeah I’m going to have to agree with Shawn on this one. They need a reality check. This shelf life is about to be on life support real fast. These kids need to learn a ton before doing anything else in life. I hate to see their finances. Like most people their age who think in archaic ways like this need a life eye opener as do most people at that age. I get it they may be seriously introverted and fragile but these types need to get over it before the world rubs them over real fast with the… Read more »
Thanks. Yes, part of the problem is becoming that there is a section of the culture that has as a religion the shaming and silencing those who are willing to, kindly or unkindly, pointing out reality to young people as early as possible. These create-your-own reality evangelists, who are always there (I once resembled these people, even these kids) not only do first world kids a disservice delaying the day they grit their teeth and figure out how to be more useful to society and getting a higher value added job (I remember being shocked when a college drop out… Read more »
This isn’t a generational issue. This is a booger-eater issue, and every generation has them.
*booger-eater: the emotionally and developmentally inmature or naive (lest I get my comment deleted).
Why did the Owners need a union to “uphold its values?” They could have just worked it out with the employees. Think, for example, Chic- Fil -A on a far larger scale.
I suspect this is actually some kind of marketing scheme.
If I were a group of employees and I wanted to increase employee morale, I would try to convince the owner to form a co-op when the workers can become the owners. Let the employees buy in. My guess is that these 5 employees would not do it because: “why would I buy into the business of a brick and mortar book shop in 2024?”
Setting up a co-op is probably too “capitalistic” for them. That’s the vibe the picture above sends. God forbidden they have to take on any additional responsibilities or put more effort into the success of the business.
Now they can have their conventions in Las Vegas, NV.
Wow. There are a lot of assumptions being made here without any actual real world knowledge of these employees. Didn’t your mom ever teach you not to judge a book by its cover?
Yes, but a picture is worth 1,000 words!
I don’t think anyone needs to make any assumptions.
Unfortunately the picture speaks for itself. I hate to say it but that type yes it speaks really bad things. It’s called crying for attention. It’s sad but it’s pathetic too.
The crazy thing is that if you want a future where you are more economically independent, the LAST thing you want to tie yourself to is a mom-and-pop business with no hope of ADVANCEMENT.
Ironically to these young folks’ view of the world, it makes far more sense to sign on to Amazon, which pays well, or even Walmart, where one can at least ADVANCE if one is REALLY deserving of higher income — last I checked, the current CEO of Walmart worked his way up from the cashier or stocker level.
Hahahahahaha………….Oh Wait? You’re Serious? hahahahaha
Picket line forming in Carytown soon
At first I was like they activated the link for the April Fools story 12 days too early. I can’t believe this is actual news and also wondering what benefits are being gained? How grueling are the work hours and how unsafe is the bookstore? Are they open from 1am to midnight currently and climbing the bookshelves on ladders with only 3 legs and the cash register is next to a viper pit? I would imagine a local independent bookstore in any current form is probably a place of employment with low stress levels, good quality of life and reasonable… Read more »
WHAT!, union dues how often?
Fuggetaboudit
I don’t believe that unionizing five people at an independent BK store or one random Starbucks helps the unions or their cause much. Better that the UFCW tries to unionize all of the supermarkets they’ve lost over the years.
how does the union help the store? I’m all for workers getting paid more, but that seems more likely to put a local book store out of business
I thought about it for a few minutes, then came to the conclusion….I can’t think of a better way to waste time and resources then what was explained in the article. This is a joke right? The real article is coming out later today? Please tell me there is a part 2 to the article explaining how this example of unionization is a benefit for anyone. I pity the owner of the book store.
Unions were very important to American history. They were needed to protect employees from companies and people that would take advantage of them. Thank goodness we have laws and very few monopolies at this time. Now they hurt business instead of protecting workers. Their time has pasted.
Scott, not being condescending, but you do know that monopolies in fact exist albeit under a different name?
Today they’re called hedge funds or asset funds or investment funds.
Black Rock has over $10 trillion in assets under their umbrella.
Texas just yanked over $8B earlier this week due to Black Rock’s ESG pursuits, that came with the weight of their monopolistic heft.
I’ve got a crazy idea. Why don’t these employees compete against each other, work harder, drive up sales, lower expenses and prove to their boss that they are worth being paid more?
No,only do the alloted work assigned ,no more.
Rob, this union is merely a supercilious manifestation of quiet quitting
I bet they have a tip jar on the front counter too.
The activist class…let’s march, let’s march!
I think they misunderstood union for polyamorous.
Go ahead and form a union. It will be hard to live on 15 an hour whether you’re union or not.
I thought real names were a requirement for posting in Bizsense.
Brutal working conditions certainly justify need for union. Plus need protection for eyes and thumbs from all screen time viewing/posting to social media and texting.
The mention of U word setting up shop in a store seems to strike more fear in Virginia then Freddy Krueger or Godzilla showing up.
I really think nothing is going to happen if it was there or if it wasn’t there at this store.
This has nothing to do with fear, it is revulsion to the absurd.
The anti-car guy wants every unskilled employee unionized too — shocked.
Seems like a huge waste of time. Why not invest this energy in something that would bring traffic into the store? Everyone knows this is a dying industry, but a local bookstore with something to offer besides stuck-up employees who treat you like you are lesser than them would most likely do wonders and would certainly be more useful than unionizing.
Well, maybe that is exactly what this is? Seems absurd to those who know better, but things often have INTERNAL logic when people think with Ideology over reality — like spend some time with Mormons and get involved in their theological discussions — something crazy might make total sense in that context, political religions same phenomenon. As a former bookish person myself, I can attest to the fact that a lot of such people tend to like comfy corners away from scary noises to live life through text and they often have comforting notions about things like Unions being substitute… Read more »
Personally; this is a great way to kill small business America. If I was the business owner and in the position I would close the store and tell the ‘Unionized’ staff to GFT. This is a perfect example of worker entitlement Generation Alpha!
I don’t believe they are young enough to be alpha. Looks like a later version of gen z sadly. My daughter is a gen alpha yes she is only two years old but I think she is the tail end of gen alpha. Can’t remember when gen z stops and gen alpha starts.
I guess the order of business now is to elect a shop steward.this person is responsible for communicating with the big union mafia office in New Jersey.
Wait till they find out they have to pay dues to guys in NJ.
I love all the knee jerk anti-union comments exposing everyone’s fear and ignorance! keep em coming!