Bookstore Zora’s Place opens at the AUX

A Black woman-owned bookstore has joined several other small businesses as tenants at the Black entrepreneurship hub on Washington Street in southwest Evanston. 

Zora’s Place, named for Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston, officially opened at The AUX on Saturday with a ribbon cutting. 

The AUX, which opened in May, is a Black-owned wellness collective dedicated to racial equity. It hosts regular yoga and dance classes, coaching sessions, and other community programs, and its tenant businesses also include Chicky’s Kitchen Creations, the Laundry Cafe and talk therapy group Together + Through, among others.

L’Oreal Thompson Payton, the owner of the bookstore, is also a certified yoga instructor who teaches classes at the hub, but she dreamed of owning a bookstore after seeing other feminist-centered businesses. 

Zora’s Place founder L’Oreal Thompson Payton. Credit: Joerg Metzner

“I saw the space, and it was literally love at first sight,” Thompson Payton said. “I was like, ‘This is where it needs to be.’ I saw everything immediately — the furniture, the orange sofa, the bookshelves and, more than that, just this community space.” 

The store will be open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and will also host story sessions for children every second Saturday of the month.

Thompson Payton said she wants the bookstore to be a space for residents to gather and a “third space that we don’t have too often.” 

“For people to sit and read and for the little ones to color,” she said. “We’ll do story times and author talks. I want to do open mic nights and book clubs.” 

From left: Pam Johnson Davis, L’Oréal Thompson Payton, Violet Payton, Jeff Payton and Chasity Cooper. Credit: Joerg MetznerEnobong Tommelleo with daughter Novella. Enobong is the owner of African inspired stationary company Pounded Yam Productions, who’s products are for sale at Zora’s Place. Credit: Joerg MetznerPam Johnson Davis and DeMico Davis. Credit: Joerg MetznerCredit: Joerg Metzner

Because space in the store is limited, the inventory is also small, but Thompson Payton said that forces her to be intentional with the books she chooses.

“I have to have the classics, right?” She said. “We have to have the OGs: the Toni Morrisons, the Bell Hooks and the Zora Neale Hurstons, because they really paved the way for everyone who is in that space.” 

Nonfiction titles available include self-help books with a wellness focus, as well as books highlighting racial justice and equity. 

The store also sells other goods made by local Black entrepreneurs, like bookmarks, soaps, nail polishes and journals.

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