Love in print: Vancouver bookstore gives romance readers a room of their own

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There have been bookstores dedicated to science fiction/fantasy, mystery/crime, and other genres. So why not romance?

In fact, romance bookstores are probably the fastest-growing trend in the bookselling world. Since sisters Bea and Leah Koch opened The Ripped Bodice in Culver City in 2016, dozens more have popped up, including the latest, right here in East Vancouver.

On Aug. 16, Perfect Match at 545 E. Broadway became the seventh romance-dedicated bookstore in Canada. There are currently 133 physical romance bookstores in nine countries around the world.

The store is proof of both the popularity and expansiveness of the genre.

“We’ve got sports romance with anything from hockey to Formula One on the shelves,” says store owner Amy Pelletier.

“We’ve got Westerns, we’ve got historical romances that range from the classic bodice ripper to the magical. One series that I love, India Holton’s Dangerous Damsels, is based in the Regency era but also has witches who fly houses. It’s part of this fun trend I’ve seen for more whimsy and cosy magic. Kind of an in-between readers who love contemporary romance, Jane Austen, and cosy fantasy.”

Readers will also find lighthearted beach reads, romances set in science labs, billionaire dramas, vampire sagas, and everything in between.

“There are so, so, so many types of books in this space that they do deserve a whole store,” Pelletier said.

According to BookNet Canada, romance book sales increased 55 per cent in 2022 over the previous year, thanks in large part to Colleen Hoover’s immensely popular It Ends with Us. And Circana BookScan reports that the genre grew from 18 million print copies sold in 2020 to more than 39 million in 2023.

In terms of both expanding the genre’s boundaries and bringing in new readers, Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey — published in 2005 and 2011 respectively (in fact, the latter began as Twilight fan-fiction) — were game-changers.

“That was a big era for changing the face of romance and the conversation around it,” Pelletier said. “You’ve also got The Hunger Games and that era of books. A lot of those readers are still reading romance and fantasy and romantic novels. They (the novels) just look different now.”

A naturopathic doctor by training, Pelletier had been practising in Vancouver since moving from Kelowna in 2015. Last year she decided to pursue a different dream.

“I started investigating everything that would go into opening an independent bookstore,” Pelletier said. “I got serious last fall, and then I had opened an online store by late March.”

According to Jane Nunnikhoven, the Vancouver-based owner of numbers-tracking site Romancing the Data, this is common.

“Of the 50 physical romance bookstores that have opened this year worldwide, a quarter of them started with an online or pop-up presence first.”

Pelletier’s online store was only ever meant as a launch pad.

“I wanted to get out there, start connecting with the community, start hosting our bookstore’s book club,” Pelletier said.

Plans for Perfect Match include not only book club meetings — on Sept. 4 readers will discuss TJ Alexander’s 2025 Regency-era A Gentleman’s Gentleman — but also author signings, readings, craft nights, friendship dating, and more.

“Independent bookstores have always served as more than a retail space, as a community hub,” said Pelletier, who hosted over 700 people during the store’s opening weekend.

“I think that, especially for romance readers, the community element is essential. Coming into the store, making new friends, getting recommendations — you can see people connect live and in person. That is one of the things that I’m most excited about this store.”

Pelletier also sees Perfect Match as a platform for Canadian authors like Toronto-based Carley Fortune and Vancouver’s Stephanie Archer, who writes what Archer’s website calls “spicy hot hockey romance” like this year’s Gloves Off.

As for personal faves, Pelletier doesn’t hesitate.

“My favourite author is Alexis Hall, from the U.K. A Lady for a Duke is a book I recommend to everyone.”