Kiss and Tale Romance Bookshop, which has been operating as a pop-up, will open a bricks-and-mortar location in September at 340 W. Ponce de Leon Avenue, Suite 202, in Decatur, Ga. What Now Atlanta reported that co-owners Jen Kamrath and Molly Kamrath are in the process of preparing their 1,500-square-foot space, located above Mellow Mushroom pizzeria.
The sisters both work in costumes for the film and TV industry, but during the 2023 writers' and actors' strike, they spent about 10 months out of work. That was when they began to brainstorm a concept for a bookstore, inspired by other romance bookshops like The Ripped Bodice in Los Angeles.
"We both talked about it and thought: Atlanta needs something like that here," Jen Kamrath said. "We're really looking to create a community, which we started with our pop-ups, and we're just really looking forward to being able to expand that and have a place where people really feel like they can come and look at the books they want to look at, buy the books they want to buy, have other readers that are of the same mind, meet new readers, meet new books and just have a place to share all of that," Jen said.
Noting that the space "will have a sophisticated, feminine design, with black bookcases and touches of blush and pink throughout the store," What Now Atlanta wrote that the Kamraths' vision is to feature book clubs, events, and other methods to connect readers and help them find a sense of belonging.
"We really want to integrate ourselves into the community in Decatur, and we look at [other businesses there] as something that we would like to [achieve]," Molly Kamrath said. "We want to be like that. We want to be the store that's been there for 20 years."