Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Ga., will expand into an adjacent space and add a coffee shop, Decaturish reported.
The bookstore, which sells predominantly children's books with a curated selection of adult titles, will take over a space that previously housed a Starbucks and has been empty for five years. About half of the new space will contain books, while a coffee bar operated by Bellwood Coffee will fill the other half.
The wall between the current and new space will be taken down, and there will be seating for the coffee shop both indoors and outside. Since 2014, Little Shop of stories has been using donated pennies to create flooring for the bookstore, with the pennies affixed to the concrete with a product called Liquid Nails, and that will continue in the new space.
Co-owner Diana Capriola told Decaturish that she and fellow co-owner Sunny Bowles hope the cafe helps draw in local teenagers. "That's our biggest hope I think. We also want it to be a place that parents can come during the day."
"Also outside of being a bookstore, I think we really see ourselves as a community gathering space," Bowles noted. "We very much rely on our community, and love being a part of the community as a place and a resource and a safe place."
They expect the coffee shop to be open for business in the fall.
The bookstore underwent a similar expansion about nine years ago, when it took over an adjacent space that had previously housed a gift store. "When they moved, we took down the wall, and we expanded into that space, so now, in 2025, we're expanding further into the Starbucks space," Capriola said.
Remarked Bowles: "And that's the whole building, so we can't go any further."