Shops, books and gifts: Worker-Owned and Employee-Owned in the Bay Area

Worker-Owned Businesses

Clothing, leis, publishers and a print shop. 5 businesses, each owned by the people who work there. Information verified September 2026; call ahead for hours.

San Francisco

• Margaret O'Leary ESOPKnitwear, cashmere and dresses from a house founded in 1990 that describes itself as employee-owned.San Francisco, Union Square flagship, plus stores across the Bay and the country

East Bay

• Berrett-Koehler Publishers ESOPBooks on leadership, work and equity from an independent, mission-driven publisher and California benefit corporation.Oakland
• New Harbinger Publications ESOPEvidence-based self-help and mental health workbooks, from an independent publisher whose employees have held a controlling interest since 2004.Oakland
• The Lei Company Worker cooperativeFresh leis, custom orders and lei-making classes, from what the co-op calls the first Pasifika worker-owned cooperative in the country.Oakland

Santa Cruz

• Community Printers Worker cooperativeA unionized worker collective doing offset, digital and wide-format printing, signs and direct mail since 1977.Santa Cruz

Know a worker-owned or employee-owned business we missed? Tell us.