(no subject)

[yuuago]

A new bookstore opened up here this weekend.

It's an independent bookstore specifically for romance novels.

I took a look while I was downtown. It's nice; a little small, but a decent selection given the space, and they do have room to expand the selection by switching up the layout a bit. Everything is divided up by subgenre (contemporary, sports, dark, etc).

Also, they do carry M/M and F/F romance, so there is that. It's mixed in with everything else, rather than having its own section; you'll have to look in the Sports section for your Heated Rivalry and so on. I kind of enjoy that, but I kind of don't; on the one hand, filing it by subgenre treats it the same as everything else. On the other hand, it makes browsing a little less efficient if I know that I want something gay but don't have any other parameters in mind.

I picked up a F/F regency while I was there; Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti. Not sure if it'll be any good, but the premise sounds fun (the protagonists are rival authors of gothic fiction).

I'm a little unsure whether this place will actually be successful; Fort Mac is small, and I don't know if we have the base to sustain a regular indie bookstore, let alone one with a specific genre focus. But I hope it'll do well.

Comments

[muccamukk]

That sounds really fun! I hope it does well

[yuuago]

Definitely hoping it'll be successful!

[kanadka]

Ahh, cool!! I hope it does well. I abide by the metric of number of bookstores correlating to how enjoyable a city is, so one more makes Fort Mac that much cooler!!

[yuuago]

NGL it's a pretty cute store. And the location is decent. So, who knows, maybe it'll be a success!

[hokuton_punch]

Best of luck to it! The world needs all the indie bookstores it can get. I also have somewhat mixed feelings about that shelving system, but I can see both the cons and pros...

[yuuago]

Oh, definitely!

Re: shelving, yeahh, I dunno. I think I prefer when LGBT romance is shelved separately. That's how the indie bookstore I've been to in Edmonton does it; all LGBT-centric fiction is on its own shelf next to LGBT-centric nonfiction, and it makes browsing a lot more convenient for me. ...On the other hand, it's very separate from all the other fiction, and I don't know if I necessarily like that in the abstract. But ease of finding stuff wins out for me.