Following its debut as a pop-up store this spring, Love & Legends Books has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help open a bricks-and-mortar storefront in Brooklyn, N.Y., this fall. The 850-square-foot store, at 667 Washington Ave. in Brooklyn Heights, will specialize in fantasy and romance titles.
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| Savanna Sturkie and Jack Peeples in front of their future bookstore. | |
Co-owners and married couple Savanna Sturkie and Jack Peeples are planning a November opening and are hoping to raise $55,000 through their Kickstarter campaign. Raised funds will go toward fixtures and accessories, rent and occupancy costs, opening inventory, computer and POS equipment, and other expenses. Backer rewards include store-branded enamel pins, custom reading lists made by Sturkie and Peeples, and a fantasy-style map of Brooklyn illustrated by a local artist. So far the campaign has raised more than $14,000 with 28 days left to go.
Sturkie plans to have an opening inventory of about 4,000 all-new titles. While the store will sell primarily adult books, there will be a small selection of children's titles and larger middle grade and young adult sections, with Sturkie remarking that she and Peeples "fell in love with fantasy in elementary and middle school ourselves."
Compared to the Love & Legends pop-up appearances, which were about "half and half romance and fantasy," the bricks-and-mortar location will "lean more fantasy" in both inventory and theme. Under that umbrella, Sturkie noted, there will be epic and high fantasy, a "robust" romantasy section, as well as "a bit of sci-fi and speculative fiction."
Alongside books, the store will stock a small selection of tabletop roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, and associated items like dice sets. In addition, there will be stickers, cards, enamel pins, tote bags, and gifts for children and adults.
Asked about her event plans, Sturkie said she was "so excited" to expand Love & Legends' event offerings at the bricks-and-mortar space. They already host two book clubs per month, one focused on romance and the other on fantasy, and she and Peeples are considering adding a sci-fi or romantasy book club. They plan to host author signings and book launches as well as a variety of D&D events, such as learn-to-play sessions for children. Initially, events will be held at the store, though Sturkie and Peeples will look into hosting larger-scale events at nearby businesses and community spaces.
Both Sturkie and Peeples have been avid fantasy readers since they were children. The pair met in Athens, Ga., where Sturkie worked as a bookseller at Avid Bookshop. "My husband and I, we love reading and we love books," she said. "We also just really love independent bookstores."
The idea of opening an independent bookstore, Sturkie said, was "always something that felt like a dream." It wasn't until about a year ago that "the wheels started really turning" and she and Peeples thought "maybe we could to that for real."
Love & Legends made its first pop-up appearance in April, and over the succeeding months made more appearances around Manhattan and Brooklyn. Sturkie described the process as a series of "snowballing what-ifs." The first pop-up appearance had "way more people" show up than she imagined, and people were asking if they had a physical bookstore.
While a bricks-and-mortar was always the plan, they did not think it would happen so soon. Because of the bookstore's strong reception, however, "the steps went much faster than we would have thought."
They looked at potential locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens before the "perfect space" popped up in Brooklyn about 10 minutes from their apartment. It is a former photography studio that has its own back yard, and depending on the speed of renovations, they plan to open the store in late November.
Sturkie recalled that when they announced they'd signed a lease for a bricks-and-mortar store, their Instagram got around 2,700 likes and hundreds of shares and comments. "People are really excited," she said. "It kind of blew us away, to be honest." --Alex Mutter