Our Hours
Mon-Fri: 8am-7pm
Sat & Sun: 10am-5pm
A Store is Born
BirchBark Books is operated by a spirited collection of people who believe in the power of good writing, the beauty of hand made art, the strength of Native culture, and the importance of small and intimate bookstores. We answer to no corporate sponser. We have only good readers to please. Our books are lovingly chosen, our store is tended with care. The art, jewelry, and craftwork that we offer is made by Native artists whom we know personally and are eager to support. The sage and sweetgrass, wild rice, honey, jelly, traditional maple syrup, Dakota dried corn, teas, and fair trade coffee that we also sell are part of grassroots efforts to live more lightly on the earth.

We read to our customers. We value relationships and stories and ideas. We value what you have to say.

Come visit our store, sit down and read in one of our easy chairs. Take away a little of the peace of birchwood beams, reclaimed wood, and Native flute music.


More About Us
BirchBark Books and Native Arts is a joint venture of local book lovers, writers, Native American artists, neighborhood artisans, carpenters, and painters. We are an independent bookstore, with all of the accompanying quirks and non-corporate eccentricities. As the malling of America continues, it is our mission to be other.

We offer the best in literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and have a special focus on books by and about Native Americans. Minneapolis has one of the largest concentrations of urban Natives in the Untied States, and we wanted to provide a locus for Native intellectual life. We are native owned (Louise Erdrich is an enrolled Turtle Mountain Chippewa) and our staff is of either Native background, or exceedingly Native-friendly! We feature Native arts, jewelry, gifts, Native grown and harvested wild rice, maple syrup, jellies, coffee, popcorn, corn, beans, and medicinal teas.

Our nowv "retired" manager, mentor, friend, and book sage, Brian Baxter, has painstakingly created an inventory of over 8,000 titles. We use every inch of our 800 square foot store. We also special order books, and appreciate these orders. We are committed to finding and stocking the very best in children's books, with a special emphasis on Native American titles. We hope that our lovingly made children's loft (built by Mr. Jim Geschke)and cozy kids chairs (stuffed by Rita Erdrich) and the hobbit hole reading nook, will be one of those special spots children grow up remembering fondly.

We are very much about being neighbors. Our presence in Minneapolis is part of a very serious effort to make this city a better place for children and grown ups. We are a teaching bookstore, and willing to talk about the particulars of our books and special displays. Our inventory includes quillwork, traditional basketry, silverwork, Native dolls, and Native paintings. We deal directly with local, regional, and southwestern artisians, and can also special order whatever interests you. We stock one-of-a-kind objects available only seasonally, or as the artist completes thems. At present, we have an array of metal-work bracelets by Mitchell Zephier, Lakota, a great selection of bead and quill earrings by Emma gyer, Manitou Rapids Anishinabe, a few quill boxes by Delia Begonang of Manitoulin Island, freshly made red willow baskets by Curtis and Debbie Cree, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, star quilts by Pat Stuen, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, poster art, baby wear, and Got Doodoosh? bibs by Chad Uran, White Earth Anishinabe. As time goes on we feature other artists, and we always have a changing array of beautiful things.


The Story of Our Store
In creating this store we have tried diligently to use salvage and stay non-toxic. The dentist who had his office here, Dr. Carlson needed his chair, though. Sorry! Our doors are from the ReUse Center. Our schoolhouse globe lighting fixtures are from Architechtural Antiques. We are proud of our original wood floor, which belonged to the meat market this once was. It took an enormous amount of volunteer effort to pry up two layers of plywood, three of linoleum, and one of tarpaper, and then to extract thousands of nails from the boards beneath! The result is very weathered and uneven, but the real thing.

We have our own personal confessional, rescued from its fate as a sound booth in a bar. One side is dedicated to Cleanliness, the other to Godliness. As for the center section, previously inhabited only by the priest, we are looking for volunteers willing to keep confessional hours and dispense random forgiveness. Until then, it is a work in progress. Louise is currently collaging the interior with images of every thought and emotion she experienced while kneeling in the confession booths of her childhood.


Our Peerless Staff
Susan White, a woman who should really be running the whole country, but who has allowed us her generous energy and talent. Diane Jeffries, who juggles our bills and everything else besides.Emily Johnson, Carolyn Anderson, and Persia Erdrich are our core staff of the future and our best critics. Nancy Coleman, wise and funny, who keeps our store together. Carly and Kate Beane, Dakota, our bright and shining experts on jewelry and baskets, as well as all things Dakota. Lisa record, our benign reality check, and Richard Ellsberry, who has volunteered time and effort to make this web page.Lastly, le me (Louise Erdrich) introduce, Brian Baxter. Brian, who describes himself as "an old bookseller," is known throughout the book world for his work starting B. Dalton, and for his own extraordinary bookstore, Baxter's Books. Brian's devotion, enthusiasm, humor, and kindness are legendary, as is his committment to book education. Brian is a book phenomenon. We are so lucky to have him. We are assisted by the energy and tremendous good will of the Native and book community in Minnesota, as well as our neighborhood, our customers, our supporters in schools and coleges. To all, a big Miigwech.