When we founded Safe space bookstore, we wanted to create a place that was missing in Prague – a space where smaller events, gatherings and educational programs could take place for projects and groups that otherwise could not afford expensive hall rentals. A space that is accessible, open, and safe. That is how the first activist bookstore in the Czech Republic connected with a community café was born.
In our first year, we managed to keep things running mostly thanks to the café – with homemade lemonades, marinated tofu and langoš :). This allowed us to open our doors to the public and host dozens of events, lectures, and discussions each month. But we also realized that this model is not sustainable in the long run.
Why?
- Because running a café means constant pressure for performance, revenue, and a pace that is exhausting and incompatible with our mission – especially for a team that includes people with different mental and physical limitations.
- Because the energy that should go into caring for the community, education, and organizing events is instead consumed by ordering coffee, unpaid administrative work, or running the gastro operations.
- Because we know that the true value of Safe space bookstore is not in the coffee or food, but in the space that gives people the opportunity to meet, discuss, learn, and grow together.
What Safe space offers
- Community center: we organize discussions, workshops, readings, cultural and educational events that open space for dialogue and understanding.
- Bookstore: we offer literature focused on human rights, inclusion, feminism, LGBTQ+ topics, and independent publishing.
- Café: a place to rest, meet friends, or make new connections.
Where we are heading
We want Safe space bookstore to become a fully-fledged community center that works independently of café profits.
That means:
That means:
- fair wages for our staff, so that community care is not voluntary work on the edge of burnout,
- the ability to pay for administrative work that is invisible but absolutely essential (accounting, event organization, communication),
- a space where smaller projects and initiatives can meet without fear of high rents or unnecessary pressure,
- an educational and cultural program accessible to everyone, whether or not they can afford to pay admission – including fair honoraria for speakers and performers.
Why your support matters
Our work is not financed by big profits. We operate as a non-profit, and most of our resources come from our own activity (running the café and bookstore). Still, the costs of operation, salaries, and programs regularly exceed our income.
By supporting us with a one-time or regular donation, you directly contribute to:
- Safe space bookstore remaining a safe place for anyone seeking an open space for meeting and dialogue,
- our ability to cover operational and administrative costs without relying on café revenue,
- our energy going into education, events, and community-building – not stress over receipts and beer orders,
- keeping a space in Prague where people can breathe, talk, and be together without money being the main focus.
Become part of it
Safe space bookstore is a living organism that grows with its community.
If you choose to support us with a recurring donation, you will help us create stability and certainty that we’ll be here in a year, in two years, in five years.
If you choose to support us with a recurring donation, you will help us create stability and certainty that we’ll be here in a year, in two years, in five years.
Every donation – small or large – means that we do not measure success by the number of coffees sold, but by the conversations, relationships, and encounters that happen in our space.
Thank you for helping us keep the doors open.
💛💜
Přeji hodně štěstí. Díky, že jste.
🫂
❤️🩹
Safe space je moje oblíbená kavárna, nemůžu vás nechat padnout (asi bych nedal psychicky vysokou). 🫶🫂
🧜🏼♀️💓🧜🏼♀️
<3
Strašně vám fandím, zvládněte to!!! ❤️
Taková místa nám tu chybí<33 přeju mnoho štěstí!
Držím palce! Gabriela Svárovská