Mossrose Bookshop, a Latina-owned pop-up romance bookstore, will open a bricks-and-mortar location on March 8 at 711 Milby St., suite 27, in the Ironworks building, Houston, Tex. The Chronicle reported that the bookstore "specializes in romance novels from a diverse range of authors and romance genres, aiming to create a vibrant, inclusive space for romance lovers to connect and celebrate love."
Founder Andrea Sifuentes-Echavarria hosted her first pop-up in May 2024 at Ironworks, and has since continued to expand its title selection, leading to the need for a bricks-and-mortar location. She created Mossrose Bookshop after struggling to find diverse romantic stories that resembled her own life.
"I found that there are so many independent authors that don't get seen, and so many that are diverse in every way," she said. "There are books that are more like my reality and the reality of other people who don't see themselves or didn't [while] growing up.... I like to make sure that I'm always including as many different types of love stories as possible. If it's a good story and people are talking about it, or it's one I think people should be talking about, I'm going to include it."
Mossrose Bookshop also offers Spanish translations of novels whenever possible. "If somebody were to say, 'Hey, do you know if this has a translation?' if I don't have it and you want me to track it down, I will do what I can," Sifuentes-Echavarria said.
The bookstore will feature book signings by local authors, "a full-circle moment for the shop, whose name is rooted in Houston," the Chronicle wrote.
"Mossrose is actually a street I grew up on... here in Houston," Sifuentes-Echavarria noted, adding that her husband, Joseph Echavarria, came up with the name, stressing that the city is where she built her own library and is now coming back to fill a void. "Anyone who's looking for those stories, I want to provide them," she said. "Yes, there is a traditional romance story, but there's also romance novels for everyone."