One of Asheville’s coolest community spaces, Firestorm Cafe and Books

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Help Firestorm Cafe and Books celebrate its second birthday. Firestorm is one of Asheville’s coolest community spaces: 

Firestorm Cafe & Books was hatched through the Mountain Bizworks’ Foundations Program in consultation with the Southern Appalachian Center for Cooperative Ownership (SACCO) and draws inspiration from the worker-owned business model of Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse in Baltimore, MD. Firestorm is cooperatively managed by its twelve workers who have committed to dispense 100% of profits through a community grant program once they are able to compensate labor with a livable wage.

Over the last two years, Firestorm Cafe & Books has hosted over 450 unique performances, forums, workshops and films in addition to regular open mics and poetry slams. More recently, a partnership with downtown’s Blitzkrieg Games has resulted in a weekly board game night at which participants can sample a variety of games, both classic and exotic.