“When we bought the store, we wanted people to be able to come in and buy a book for a dollar or buy a book for thousands of dollars,” Bogla said. “We expanded everything so that we could have appeal to a larger audience.”

The store’s front room stays true to its original roots. Glass cases and wooden shelves display the shop’s most distinguished vintage and collectible books.

There are the signed editions: “Long Walk to Freedom” signed by Nelson Mandela; James Baldwin’s “Blues for Mr. Charlie” signed by jazz musician Bobby Sharp; a first edition of “The Handmaid’s Tale” signed by Margaret Atwood and many more.

There are controversial books, like a coffee-table book of Robert Maplethorpe’s photography, and a shelf of banned books such as “Catcher in the Rye,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Fahrenheit 451.”

Rare books delight those with special interests. For example, science fiction fans will be in awe over a unique book of images from H.P. Lovecraft novels, while the philosophically minded can gawk at a huge collection of rare texts donated by an Emory professor who specialized in Sartre.

Vintage albums, historical novels, bargain paperbacks, metaphysical books, graphic novels, cookbooks — the list of offerings is endless in the 7,000-square-foot, two-story shop where bibliophiles can get lost among the stacks for hours.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Bogla and Roarty were in their early 50s when the couple made the bold move to purchase the shop. It seemed like kismet. They had been running a publishing company for roughly 30 years and were worn out by deadlines and pressure. One weekend in December 2006, Roarty, who generally read the business section of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution every Sunday, was feeling down, so he didn’t read it, but Bogla, who rarely read the business section, did. She saw an ad for the sale of an unnamed bookstore. An inquiry revealed it was Atlanta Vintage Books, a store Roarty frequented.

“That was in the middle of December, and by Feb. 1st we owned it,” Bogla said. “We looked at each other and said, ‘If we don’t try this, we will regret it the rest of our lives. We agreed that even if we had to sleep downstairs, we would. We haven’t had to. It has turned out to be just the most wonderful thing.”

Atlanta Vintage Books accepts used books on a trade-for-credit system. It also sells select collectible books on consignment.

The variety keeps Bogla’s days interesting.

“You never know who’s going to walk in and you never know what books are going to come through the door. So every day anything can happen,” she said. “I learn something new here every day, and that’s the truth.”

Atlanta Vintage Books, 3660 Clairmont Road, Atlanta, 770-457-2919. atlantavintagebooks.com; @atlantavintagebooks on Instagram.

Credit: Danielle Charbonneau

Credit: Danielle Charbonneau

All the Tropes Romance Bookstore

One day last August, romance literature fans flocked to a corner shop in Kirkwood where All the Tropes Romance Bookstore held its grand opening. In just 24 hours, owner Kate McNeil, 39, of Kirkwood, sold out half her inventory. The shop’s treasure trove of mainstream, indie and niche romance novels ripe with lust, lore, fantasy, escape and happy endings had struck a chord with readers.

All the Tropes has a definite vibe. A gothic font distinguishes its logo. Three ornate chandeliers hang from the ceiling against a backdrop of black and floral wallpaper. Rows of black shelving line walls draped with hand-dyed purple lace linens. Shades of royal purple dominate the rugs while vintage, wing-backed chairs and fringe lamps accentuate the space.

On the wall behind the register are gold-framed posters of steamy lovers from novels. There’s the rebellious, dragon-riding Xaden Riorsonm with his windblown hair, mysterious dark-eyes and chiseled body from Rebecca Yarros’ “Fourth Wing.” An adult Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter’s nemesis, stares out with his aristocratic sharp nose, alabaster skin and white-blond hair. Gorgeous characters from Sarah J. Mass’s “Throne of Glass” series also catch the eye.

Scampering across the shop floor is a rescue cat named Draco.

The store is organized into subgenres. The most popular is romantasy (a cross between fantasy and romance). This includes both the paranormal (wolf shifters, ghosts, witches and vampires) and the more classic (fayes, gods and monsters). Historical romances, such as “Outlander,” “Mansfield Park” and “Jane Eyre” stack together.

A dark section includes books with trigger warnings and taboo subjects other books won’t touch. Erotica naturally lives next door. Contemporary books are in the center. An LGBTQ+ section, young adult and seasonal books rest on the edge. Special edition books, like those with gilt edges or artwork, are popular, as is related merchandise like party games, drinkware, stickers, art, tote bags, T-shirts and jewelry.

The bookstore hosts author signings, wine tastings, book binding workshops and seven book clubs. Some events are held at bigger venues like the upcoming Q&A with Brynne Weaver, author of “Butcher & Blackbird” and “Leather & Lark,” on Feb. 13 at North Decatur Presbyterian Church.

The vision behind All the Tropes was born during the coronavirus pandemic. McNeil was an acting teacher working remotely. With extra time at home she found herself escaping through reading. She had never read much romance but enjoyed fantasy so she gave “A Court of Thorns and Roses” a try. Suddenly, her own mother’s reading choices from when she was a girl made sense.

“I remember my mom getting those bodice rippers from a Kroger with Fabio on the cover. We would go to the beach and I’d be like, ‘Mom! Please. People can see you’re reading that.” McNeil remembers. “Now I get it.”

McNeil started devouring romance books from Barnes & Noble. Once she had exhausted the big box store’s inventory, she grew frustrated trying to find a new source for romance novels. Then the Barnes & Noble near her closed.

The seed for All the Tropes was planted when McNeill took a trip to New York and visited the The Ripped Bodice romance bookstore.

“I was like, ‘Whoa, why don’t I have something like this close by?’ … I kept waiting and waiting and waiting and nobody was opening up a store in Atlanta,” she said. “And I was like, ‘You know what? This is crazy. I’ll just do it myself.’”

She set out to build the store she wished she could shop in. Her goal was to turn it into a “destination spot.” And so it has. Customers hail from Atlanta and beyond ― Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and North Georgia.

“Romance is huge, and women and men are now not afraid to say that they read romance,” McNeil said. “There is so much diversity with characters, with authors, with the subgenres, that you just can’t get bored.”

All the Tropes Romance Bookstore, 27 Doyle St SE Suite 1, Atlanta, 470-692-7023. Allthetropesbookstore.com; @allthetropesbookstore on Instagram.

Credit: Courtesy of The Lavender Bookshop

Credit: Courtesy of The Lavender Bookshop

The Lavender Bookshop

When The Lavender Bookshop owner Sara Williford was in college, she fell out of love with books. Reading had been her favorite pastime as a child, but as an adult she found it difficult to relate to most characters. At the time she was embracing her identity and falling in love with her eventual wife whom she married in 2010. Few of the protagonists she could find resonated with her.

“While there is certainly excitement in reading books that don’t completely align with your identity … at a certain point, if you’re just never seeing yourself, it is alienating,” she said.

While attending Agnes Scott College, she would beg people to drive her to Outwrite Books in Midtown, which catered to the LGBTQ+ community, but it closed in 2012.

Charis Books was her other go-to, but their inventory seemed more focused on nonfiction.

“There’s only so many books you can read about conversion therapy and stuff like that before it’s like, I just want fantasy. I want a romance. I want escapism,” she said.

In 2022, when she was laid off from a decade-long career at a cellphone company, she accepted a job at a secondhand bookstore in Kennesaw where she made it her mission to help people struggling to find books they could resonate with. She started curating a table of books with only LGBTQ+ protagonists.

“In my experience, anytime I go to a bookstore, you’re looking through 5,000 romance novels to find the two that are applicable,” she said. “When I started curating the table, I would have people gasp and be surprised and excited that they didn’t have to do that.”

The table was so appreciated by some customers that one couple drove more than 90 miles from Chattanooga monthly just to see what books she had found for the table.

Unfortunately, management pushed back, asking her to take down the table, citing distributor and publisher contracts. Tension grew, so Williford decided to quit. While she was disappointed, the fallout inspired her to open her own shop.

She selected Lavender for the shop’s name because of the word’s historic significance in the LGBTQ+ community. The color is a combination of blue and pink, which symbolizes the breaking down of gender norms and binaries. A 1950s witch hunt for LGBTQ+ individuals in government positions was called the Lavender Scare. In the 1970s, a group of lesbian activists known as the Lavender Menace protested the exclusion of lesbians from mainstream feminist movements. Lavender marriages refer to gay men marrying lesbians as a social cover. And in art and literature, some LGBTQ+ writers and artists embraced lavender as a subtextual emblem of their identities.

“I also wanted something that was subtle enough that if somebody isn’t out, then if somebody saw a receipt from the shop, they wouldn’t [know],” she said.

The Lavender Bookshop had its soft-opening in October 2024 and will have a grand opening in 2025. The shop hosts events and four book clubs: sci-fi fantasy, sci-fi romance, nonfiction and one led by Williford with books she selects.

“I wanted this to be a space not just for books but also for people to be able to meet each other,” she said. “Really what I was hoping for is that people could find that community and realize that they’re not alone.”

The store carries sci-fi, fantasy, graphic novels, nonfiction, romance, erotica, poetry, general fiction, young adult, middle grade and children’s picture books. Every book in the shop has an LGBTQ+ protagonist.

“Everyone deserves to see themselves in a happy ending,” Williford said. “And that really can change your perspective on life.”

The Lavender Bookshop, 1289 Roswell Road, Suite 600, Marietta, 678-899-8951. Lavenderbookshop.com; @lavenderbookshop on Instagram.

Credit: Yes Please A Bookhouse and Carespace

Credit: Yes Please A Bookhouse and Carespace

Yes, Please: A Bookhouse and Carespace

When pulling up to this bookstore on Decatur Avenue in Scottdale, confusion may occur. Did maps steer you wrong? In front of you does not appear to be a retail space, but instead a charming house. There is no sign; only a white picket fence. You’re in the right place.

The aesthetic is intentional. Yes, Please is more than a bookstore.

“It’s a demarcated space for care,” said owner Lauren Jones, who has created the atmosphere to feel like a welcoming home.

The grounds feature a community garden. Inside, a wood-burning stove stands stately in the living room. Rustic wooden walls and exposed wooden beams make it feel cabin cozy. Hot tea brews in the kitchen. Burning incense fills the air with an earthy scent. An atlas-sized, leather-bound guest book is scrawled with notes from previous guests.

In addition to selling books primarily focused on Black women and gender-expansive writers like Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and N.K. Jemisin, Yes, Please also loans books via a lending library.

Before opening Yes, Please, Jones experienced a series of emotional blows in quick succession: Her husband died. She lost her job in fair housing in Philadelphia. Then her grandfather died. So she returned home to Atlanta to heal and help others.

Jones became a doula, completed a yoga teacher training and began meditating. She studied healing works of literature, saw her astrologer and trusted her intuition. She started a book circle and dinner with friends at her home.

“It just became a consistent container for us to come together and talk about books, but also just be together and feed each other … that really set the tone for me to do something,” she said.

Her inspiration for opening Yes, Please began to gel.

Two influential books inspired her: “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker and “The Combahee River Collective Statement” by a group of Black feminists. Both books had similar themes of women coming together to heal.

When she found the house in Scottdale, it felt right. Since opening the doors to community, the house has served many functions beyond being a bookstore and lending library. There have been gardening workshops, book studies, author signings, community dinners, yoga classes, acupuncture, poetry and music events. The goal is to create a space for connection, study and discussion.

“We can be (jerks) out front. When you come inside, we’re supposed to find different ways of relating to each other,” she said. “This is supposed to be a container for that, where it’s an excuse to practice some of the ways that you want to be, soft and vulnerable, with people where you usually wouldn’t elsewhere.”

Note that hours fluctuate; check Instagram for updates.

Yes, Please: A Bookhouse and Carespace, 2984 Decatur Ave., Scottdale. yespleasebooks.com; @yespleasebooks on Instagram.

Credit: Courtesy of Books & Brew

Credit: Courtesy of Books & Brew

Books & Brew

Who doesn’t love to curl up in a cozy chair with a good book and a glass of wine or pint of craft beer? How about a comforting, home-cooked stew waiting when hunger strikes. All these comforts can be found at Books & Brew, a family-owned, independent bookstore that opened last August in Tucker.

The store sells new and used books, as well as food and beverages including alcoholic varieties, but “those are just products,” said co-owner and family matriarch Irene Bethelmie. “I think our real (selling point) is that people like having a place to go that’s like a home away from home. It’s a comfort thing.”

Irene’s daughter and co-owner, Quinelle Bethelmie, agreed. “There’s something really satisfying about having that third place that has all of those things.”

The idea was first conceived during the pandemic over Sunday dinners when the family, including Quinelle’s boyfriend Nate Monga, would sit at the table and talk about their hopes and dreams. Irene Bethelmie, who had recently retired from her 42-year career as a lab tech in a blood bank, announced she wanted to start a new business. The musing began.

Quinelle had fond memories as a child going with her father to the coffee shop at Borders bookstore for their father-daughter date days. “I would find a little corner and I would just sit and read my books,” she said.

Irene likewise had a childhood love of books. “I always loved reading. It was like a world beyond where you are to experience other things,” she said. She first learned to read as an escape while attending a segregated school in Alabama.

Monga had experience managing a bookstore.

The dots connected, and the idea for Books & Brew (brew as in beer, not coffee, though the shop sells both) was born. Between property shopping, permitting, renovations and red tape, it took about three years to materialize.

The adorable shop now oozes love and care. One recent day a bearded man in hipster glasses with a craft brew in his hand could be seen chatting with Monga who stood behind the bar. A woman was curled up reading in an armchair by a window with her long-haired dachshund on her lap. The savory smells of Irene’s homecooked stew (served in lamb, beef and vegan varieties) wafted through the space. Contemporary but cozy, the shop felt as intended, like a home away from home.

Books & Brew, 4316 Lawrenceville Highway, Suite 110, Tucker, 404-583-6858. booksandbrew.net; @thebooksandbrew on Instagram.