The store front of Modern Times new location on 24th Street. Photo Luis García

With a 40-year legacy that speaks volumes, Modern Times Bookstore has played a vital role in the Mission community as a gathering place for community leaders and activists, a platform for progressive thought and an advocate for the arts and culture.

The bookstore has silently been suffering from a subsequent amount of debt and a lack of revenue in the era of e-books and the internet —forcing its owners to turn to the community for help to avoid closing shop.

“It’s a pretty serious situation,” said Ruth Mahaney, a senior member of the collective under which Modern Times operates. “If we don’t get more business, we really can’t make it, because we are not breaking even at this point.”

Currently located on 24th and Alabama streets, Modern Times was forced to move in 2011 from its location on Valencia Street, where it had been housed since 1991, due to a rent that almost doubled. It was this move that caused the bookstore to accrue nearly $100,000 in debt.

“We stayed there longer than we should have,” said Mahaney. “We are here now and we have really decent rent…but I know that could change any minute.”

As gentrification and real estate speculators have made their way to 24th street, the collective is once again confronted with a changing demographic as well as less foot traffic.

“This bookstore represents a current message on 24th Street in the midst of all of this,” said Eileen Hansen, a volunteer at Modern Times. “We are still here, one of our highest selling sections is the Spanish-language section, and that’s this community—we need to stay here and be there for that community, even as gentrification happens.”

Hansen points out that one of the challenges is creating a business plan and message that will cater to the neighborhood’s new demographic while retaining the people that have always supported Modern Times.

A fundraising event was held on Jan. 24 that featured local musicians—and effort to draw attention and donations. These types of events will become a regular practice, said Mahaney.

The collective also launched an Indiegogo campaign that raised a total of $10,000, while its fiscal sponsor has helped raise another $10,000. With $80,000 left in order to retire the debt, Modern Times hopes that it will sustain itself through the year.

“I discovered Modern Times when it was a little storefront on 17th and Sanchez streets and it was just wonderful to find this place where progressive thought had a home,” said Martha Hawthorne, member of the Knuckle Knockers, a local group that performed during Friday’s fundraiser. “It’s a place where workers have some control over their working conditions, over their product, over their customers, over their lives—it’s very special because Modern Times is an example of something that is not corporate, something that works to really serve people and not just to make a buck.”