Short Summary

St. Louis has a huge, diverse, and extremely active bookish romance community that The Novel Neighbor has been proud to foster and delight in over the past decade. Answering the call for more titles, more events, and more community, The Novel Neighbor is proud to introduce you to your soon-to-be new neighbor: Open Door Romance at The Novel Neighbor. 

Open Door Romance, opening in August 2024 will function as a mini-Romance Bookstore dedicated to celebrating the love of all things romance including books, gifts, and curated romance displays and events.

What We Need & What You Get

We are raising $10,000 for general opening costs. The majority of these funds will be used for updating the space, purchasing inventory, marketing and other necessities like furniture, shelves on wheels, etc. Everything we need to ensure that Open Door Romance is a safe and fun space for the romance community in STL!

If we can exceed our initial $10,000 goal, we have so many additional plans for fun ways to expand and grow!

The Impact

Romance, despite being our top-growing genre, still carries an enormous amount of stigma in the literary community, especially amongst indie bookstores – we want to bridge that gap in STL and encourage readers to gather together in safe spaces to read what they love. Open Door Romance seeks to celebrate this genre through more book clubs, social media recommendations, author events, and a wider selection of romance that mirrors the diversity of its readership.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can't donate right now, you can still help Open Door Romance open our doors (haha, get it?):

• Reshare our announcement and social media posts!
• Come visit us at The Novel Neighbor now!
• Use the reshare tools on Indiegogo!