Pandora Book Peddlers
Item
Title
Pandora Book Peddlers
Description
Pandora’s Book Peddlers was a distinctive, community-rooted independent bookstore that played an outsized cultural role in Englewood and northern New Jersey beginning in the early 1980s. Founded in October 1983 by partners Pamela Sheldrick and Vivian Scheinmann, the shop was widely recognized as New Jersey’s only women’s and feminist bookstore at the time, and among the few in the broader New York metropolitan area. Located on Palisade Avenue in Englewood before later relocating to Madison, Pandora’s was deliberately mission-driven: it centered women’s lives, feminist scholarship, multicultural perspectives, and social justice while remaining open and welcoming to all readers.
The store carried thousands of carefully curated titles—many from small presses and university publishers—that were often difficult to find elsewhere. Its shelves ranged across women’s studies, feminist theory, Black and lesbian literature, spirituality, psychology, health, parenting, children’s and young adult books, fiction, biography, and the arts. Selection was guided by clear principles: books had to reflect women’s experiences and be non-sexist and non-racist, particularly in the children’s section. Pandora’s became a vital intellectual hub, drawing professors, students, activists, and neighborhood regulars who came not only to shop but to exchange ideas.
Pandora’s also functioned as an important cultural space. It hosted author events and signings, including a 1989 book-signing by Alice Walker, underscoring the store’s national significance within feminist and literary networks. The owners regularly participated in academic conferences and community discussions, and were vocal advocates for Englewood as a place worth investing in, challenging negative stereotypes about safety and downtown decline. In this way, Pandora’s Book Peddlers was more than a specialty bookstore: it was a feminist commons, an educational resource, and a lasting marker of Englewood’s progressive cultural history.
The store carried thousands of carefully curated titles—many from small presses and university publishers—that were often difficult to find elsewhere. Its shelves ranged across women’s studies, feminist theory, Black and lesbian literature, spirituality, psychology, health, parenting, children’s and young adult books, fiction, biography, and the arts. Selection was guided by clear principles: books had to reflect women’s experiences and be non-sexist and non-racist, particularly in the children’s section. Pandora’s became a vital intellectual hub, drawing professors, students, activists, and neighborhood regulars who came not only to shop but to exchange ideas.
Pandora’s also functioned as an important cultural space. It hosted author events and signings, including a 1989 book-signing by Alice Walker, underscoring the store’s national significance within feminist and literary networks. The owners regularly participated in academic conferences and community discussions, and were vocal advocates for Englewood as a place worth investing in, challenging negative stereotypes about safety and downtown decline. In this way, Pandora’s Book Peddlers was more than a specialty bookstore: it was a feminist commons, an educational resource, and a lasting marker of Englewood’s progressive cultural history.
"Pandora is more than a specialty book store," Daily Record, May 22, 1997.
Source
"A Day In Englewood A word on Pandora." The Record, 14 Mar. 1992, p. 23.
"Pandora Book Peddlers." The Record, 6 May 1990, p. 14.
Contributor
Date Started
1983
Source of File Attached
"Pandora Book Peddlers." The Record, 6 May 1990, p. 14.
Collection
Citation
“Pandora Book Peddlers,” Englewood Makes History, accessed October 2, 2026, https://archive.englewoodmakeshistory.org/items/show/744.