diff --git a/esda/__init__.py b/esda/__init__.py
index d05aac65..b9e5c417 100644
--- a/esda/__init__.py
+++ b/esda/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-__version__ = "2.4.0"
+__version__ = "2.4.1"
 """
 :mod:`esda` --- Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis
 =================================================
diff --git a/esda/map_comparison.py b/esda/map_comparison.py
index 23a01b4e..99eccf76 100644
--- a/esda/map_comparison.py
+++ b/esda/map_comparison.py
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
-import numpy, pygeos, pandas, geopandas
+import numpy, pandas
 from scipy.special import entr
 
+try:
+    import pygeos
+except (ImportError, ModuleNotFoundError):
+    pass  # gets handled in the _cast function.
+
 # from nowosad and stepinski
 # https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2018.1511794
 
@@ -21,6 +26,13 @@ def _cast(collection):
     """
     Cast a collection to a pygeos geometry array.
     """
+    try:
+        import pygeos, geopandas
+    except (ImportError, ModuleNotFoundError) as exception:
+        raise type(exception)(
+            "pygeos and geopandas are required for map comparison statistics."
+        )
+
     if isinstance(collection, (geopandas.GeoSeries, geopandas.GeoDataFrame)):
         return collection.geometry.values.data.squeeze()
     elif pygeos.is_geometry(collection).all():
diff --git a/esda/shape.py b/esda/shape.py
index 096cb116..0e03a411 100644
--- a/esda/shape.py
+++ b/esda/shape.py
@@ -1,13 +1,24 @@
-import pygeos
-import geopandas, pandas
 import numpy
-from numba import njit, prange
+import pandas
+
+try:
+    import pygeos
+except (ImportError, ModuleNotFoundError):
+    pass  # gets handled at the _cast level.
+
+from .crand import njit, prange
+
 
 # -------------------- UTILITIES --------------------#
 def _cast(collection):
     """
     Cast a collection to a pygeos geometry array.
     """
+    try:
+        import pygeos, geopandas
+    except (ImportError, ModuleNotFoundError) as exception:
+        raise type(exception)("pygeos and geopandas are required for shape statistics.")
+
     if isinstance(collection, (geopandas.GeoSeries, geopandas.GeoDataFrame)):
         return collection.geometry.values.data.squeeze()
     elif pygeos.is_geometry(collection).all():