Before opening The Dock Bookshop with her sister in 2008, Donna Craddock’s only related experience had been a brief stint selling books for Cokesbury at Brite Divinity School events on TCU’s campus. Today, Craddock ’06 MA is co-owner of one of the largest Black-owned bookstores in the southwestern United States.  

“You know, it’s a ‘hindsight is 20/20’ thing,” said Craddock, who earned her master’s in Christian service from Brite. “I was selling books while I was in graduate school, selecting titles based on the event, the theme of the conference. … I look back and think that was all part of the process, giving me some experience and knowledge with bookselling, not knowing that I would need it.” 

Craddock brings a big heart for serving others and a set of innate administrative strengths to her role as co-owner.  

“She is not only a beautiful person, she is great with organization, details and customer service, all of which are absolutely essential to running a business,” said Donya Craddock, Donna’s sister and business partner.  

The Dock Bookshop, located in east Fort Worth, stocks more than 3,000 titles in 4,000 square feet of retail space. The store hosts up to 20 events per month, including author interviews and book signings, lectures and panel discussions, book clubs, poetry and spoken-word readings, and writer workshops.  

“This area needed a bookstore, but what we’ve built here is so much more than a bookstore,” Donna Craddock said. “And the community around us and afar has supported and helped so much in this effort. It’s a place of tranquility for visitors, and also it’s a place of learning and exchanging ideas.” 

Co-owner Donya Craddock assists a customer at The Dock Bookshop in Fort Worth. Photo by Raul Rodriguez

Brite Beginnings

Since 1999, Craddock has worked and worshiped at St. John Church in Southlake and Grand Prairie. As a staff member, she captains a sizable network of volunteers and lay leaders and organizes meetings and events. When Craddock began her ​​master’s in Christian service at Brite in 2004, it wasn’t to broaden her job prospects.  

“I wanted to gain more knowledge as far as serving the church, serving effectively,” she said, “and just becoming a greater asset to my church community.” 

Craddock continued her full-time role at St. John after graduation. The following year, Donya approached Craddock with a particularly intriguing business idea.  

“She’s the entrepreneur,” Craddock said. “She had several business ideas she was entertaining at the time, but when she mentioned a bookstore … that kind of touched me in a way.” 

The timing proved challenging. The financial crisis of late 2007 and 2008 made it impossible for the Craddock sisters to secure a small business loan, so they pooled their life savings to realize their dream. 

“Opening a bookstore in a recession, we had people who really thought we were going to close,” Craddock said, “and there were moments when we didn’t know whether we were going to make it.” 

Even still, the bookseller recalled an uncommon sense of purpose, buffeted by a palpable shift in American culture when President Barack Obama was elected in November 2008.

“We wanted to promote literacy, we wanted to lift African American voices and African American culture, we wanted to build a community,” Craddock said. “These aims are what The Dock Bookshop is all about.”

Finding A Niche

While The Dock Bookshop may stock some popular titles, its inventory is not dictated by bestsellers lists, nor do the Craddocks try to compete with chain retailers. The majority of inventory, whether fiction or nonfiction, provides a platform for lesser-known Black authors as well as stories specific to Texas and the Southwest.

The sisters’ efforts have garnered visits by several public figures, including Hill Harper, an actor and candidate for U.S. Senate; Beto O’Rourke, a former U.S. Representative from Texas’ 16th Congressional District; and Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders. 

“The bookshop has gained a national profile and has become one of the cultural hubs of Fort Worth’s African American community,” said Michael Bell, adjunct professor at Brite and senior pastor at Greater St. Stephen First Church in Fort Worth. “What stands out now and stood out when Craddock was a student at Brite are her empathy and passion. She has an affinity for the marginalized, the left out and the passed over. Her heart for the disenfranchised has been critical to the success of The Dock.” 

The Dock Bookshop of east Fort Worth contains more than 3,000 titles in its 4,000 square feet of retail space. Photo by Raul Rodriguez

The nation reeled in the aftermath of the murders of Trayvon Martin in February 2012, Breonna Taylor in March 2020 and George Floyd in May 2020. In the DFW area, Botham Jean and Atatiana Jefferson were both fatally shot in their own homes by white police officers in 2019. As the Black Lives Matter movement grew, The Dock Bookshop served an even greater purpose as a place of healing and reconciliation.  

“We were able to really expand our event offerings and our conversations between cultures and interests,” Craddock said. “The murder of George Floyd brought an influx of customers from different cultural backgrounds to the bookstore, looking to better understand Black culture and community, and race relations.” 

The pursuit of understanding has been a constant in Craddock’s life.   

“She’s questioning, engaging and willing to challenge a perspective that she doesn’t agree with or needs more clarity on,” Bell said. “She’s the same way today, many years after graduating from Brite, as she was in school — a person who takes life seriously and sees it as an opportunity to make a real difference.”     

Craddock now knows that while opening The Dock Bookshop in 2008 might have been inadvisable from a financial perspective, there was a higher plan in the works.  

“This is a space for healing as much as it is a place of business,” she said. “Even though it was crazy, it turns out we started at the right time. You know, in my experience, God operates like that sometimes.”  

Craddock reflected on what she has learned in 16 years as co-owner of The Dock: 

Operate within your purpose. Discerning purpose, for me, is about passion, but it’s also about looking back on my life. When I look back, I see my whole family — especially my parents — were avid readers. I have always enjoyed books and particularly books that represent African American experiences. I have always enjoyed service and helping with community celebrations. Looking back even further, we recently traced our family history to Marshall, Missouri, where we found out our ancestors were servants, living beneath a library in the governor’s mansion. And now their descendants own a bookstore! I feel strongly that I am operating out of my purpose. 

Service is seeing and meeting needs. When we looked closely at east Fort Worth, it was clear that it needed a bookstore. And, culturally, at that time we saw a need for representation showcasing African American authors and stories. The Dock Bookshop helps meet the needs we see here, including space to gather as a community, to discuss ideas, to share artistic gifts.  

You don’t have to know everything. Where you lack knowledge or experience, you find someone to fill in. But then you always, always continue to learn. My background is in ministry, not business. When we decided to open, I had to rely on my sister for all of that because she has her MBA. Over the years, though, the learning for me has been constant, especially through the American Booksellers Association conferences.  

Recognize the people who support you. We have had some tough months, particularly during the recession and through the Covid-19 pandemic. But we received a lot of love from the community. We really do have a lot of loyal customers, and we’re grateful for them and our wonderful community partners.