Seattle’s First Asian American Independent Bookstore Marks One Year of Success 

This article is part of Mochi’s fall 2024 issue on Resilience, redefined as “finding agency in adversity and fighting for radical change.” We highlight the strength of individuals and communities and their courage in dismantling systems of injustice. Our hope is that you will feel the strength pulsing through these stories and that you also are inspired to pair resilience with actions that lead to real, necessary, and revolutionary change.

At a recent book launch hosted by Mam’s Books — Seattle’s first Asian American–owned independent bookstore — the shop was packed with customers. Owner Sokha Danh crouched in the doorway, apologetically turning away latecomers when the store reached capacity. When the authors finished speaking and customers lined up for book signings, the store erupted into lively conversation. Many people recognized one another and reunited with warm hugs and animated greetings. Other customers found themselves engaged in personal conversations with strangers while waiting in line, leaning in close to be heard above the surrounding chatter. 

Anyone walking by the store that night could have easily interpreted the hum of conversation and laughter as a festive family gathering. As customers wandered around the store, studying old photos of Danh’s family and cultural memorabilia on the shelves and delightful stationery reflecting popular Asian foods or sayings for sale, the sense of tight-knit community was unmistakable. 

Since the store’s opening in September 2023, Cambodian American Danh has been overwhelmed by how much Seattle’s Chinatown/International District (CID) and the Asian American community have embraced the store, despite Chinatowns nationwide being gentrified or neglected. In fact, Southeast Asians, specifically Cambodian Americans, have traveled from other parts of the country just to visit Mam’s Books. With the store’s one-year anniversary approaching, Danh reflected on his first year as a business owner and a community builder.

A Bookstore Built by the Community

Danh’s foray into being a business owner has never been about selling a product or making money.

“My experience has taught me that small business owners make an impact every day,” Danh remarked. “We’re ambassadors to the CID and really are on the frontlines of community and economic development, in creating safe cultural spaces, creating economic vibrancy, and taking a hell of a gamble on our own livelihoods to shape the character of the neighborhood. It’s such a beautiful ecosystem here in this neighborhood.”

He rattled off names of other small businesses in the CID that have supported Mam’s Books, emphasizing that for one business to succeed, all businesses around you need to flourish. He also noted other small businesses and BIPOC communities around Seattle that are thriving and are more than just businesses, but rather symbols of hope.

“I feel the burden of being a business owner — one who is Southeast Asian, a person of color — and I get the sense that we’re trying to run a thriving business, but we’re also trying to make an impact on community,” Danh said. “I think that’s what differs for us as entrepreneurs [of color], whether [that mindset is] a burden or responsibility, but that’s how we think about running a successful business.”

Employees from another local independent bookstore bought T-shirts from Mam’s to wear in their own store. “What kind of business does that? What is happening?” Danh laughed, recalling his surprise at the gesture. “The book business is a really beautiful community, with the most thoughtful and kind people, from booksellers to customers.”

But the customers have amazed Danh the most, in the way that they have made the bookstore their own. One of his most memorable experiences came after an event;  Danh needed to clean up the store, but he was too exhausted for the task. When he told a group of regulars that he would clean up the next morning, the customers insisted on helping, and surprised Danh by knowing exactly where everything went.

“It’s those kinds of moments that say [the bookstore] is not mine, like these people feel a real sense that it’s theirs,” Danh said. “I think the most special thing is when I see so clearly when someone comes in, and I feel like they’re searching for something … they’re looking for home. They’re looking to feel love, they’re looking for themselves … for Asian American representation, to have a space like this in a very white city.”

Cracking the Cover on a Cultural Space

Danh had a presence in the CID long before he opened a business there. Since 2014, he has held community development roles in the CID, most currently as the CID community capacity advisor for the City of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods. 

“I literally live, work, and play in the neighborhood,” Danh said. “This is home for me.”

In other words, opening Mam’s was deeply personal.

Danh noticed that while bookstores dotted the landscape of some Seattle neighborhoods, the CID was a bookstore desert. He envisioned a bookstore that would double as a cultural space where Asian Americans could enter and feel a sense of belonging and identity that they had not been able to find elsewhere in Seattle. The store also would contribute to revitalizing an area that Danh described as being “caught in the crosshair of luxury developments, the scheming of inequitable regional infrastructure, and a real public safety crisis.”

Thanks to Danh’s dad (the bookstore’s namesake), Danh and his siblings were regularly exposed to books from an early age. “My dad was super religious in the sense that going to the library was a big deal for him,” Danh recalled. “He put us on a schedule [to go to the library], we made friends with the librarians, and we called home when we were ready to get picked up.”

Coming from a family of Cambodian refugees, Danh wanted Mam’s to be accessible to people across classes and backgrounds. “Oftentimes, bookstores are like an ivory tower, associated with elitism … so I wanted to figure out how to make a bookstore more approachable to people who don’t even enter bookstores or haven’t had an inkling to visit a bookstore or pick up a book. That’s why the identity of Mam’s is very casual, there’s fun music playing. It has bright, joyful colors — the atmosphere was a very intentional design, to not create a typical bookstore experience where you have to be quiet. … Everyone should be able to access great ideas and be exposed to learning.”

With almost one year of being a business owner under his belt, Danh finally has some breathing room to move beyond maintenance mode and dream of possibilities, like moving into a bigger space. He’s also thinking of starting a coffee bean program with Café Avole, a Black-owned coffee shop in Seattle, whose co-owner Gavin Amos has been a source of inspiration and mentorship.

But before that, Danh said he simply wants to create space for sustained reflection on what the past year has brought into his life, how Mam’s Books has been received, and what comes next.

“This is way bigger than just a personal passion project or my own personal connection to the neighborhood. [Mentor and community organizer] Ron Chew told me that this will have a life of its own, and I had no idea what he meant by that,” Danh said. “Now I know what he meant — that this bookstore is beyond me. … [This experience] has taught me to just have faith that the community will take care of this bookstore as long as it’s needed.”

Cover: Linda Danh (Sokha’s sister who helps run the store) inside the store

All images are courtesy of Sokha Danh