Canada's Seventh Romance Bookstore Opens in Vancouver
The much-awaited Perfect Match Bookshop opened its doors today!
Perfect Match Bookshop opened today in Vancouver—it is Canada’s third physical romance bookstore to open this year and the seventh overall.
Perfect Match joins Forbidden Library in Calgary and Joie des livres in Montreal as the latest additions to the Canadian romance bookstore community, marking a 75% increase from four romance bookstores at the end of 2024 to seven in 2025. That total jumps to 17 bookstores if online and pop-up stores are also included.
This growth in romance bookstores is backed by sales. According to BookNet Canada, romance book sales increased 54% in 2022 and 10% in 2023. While book sales slowed down in 2024, romance sales still increased 5% compared to a 1% increase in fiction sales and an almost 4% decrease in overall book sales.
“The romance genre is filled with stories about hope and joy, so it doesn’t surprise me that people are drawn to these narratives, especially when the world feels chaotic,” according to Amy Pelletier, owner of Perfect Match Bookshop. “I want everyone to come into the store and feel at home—to find themselves in the stories we carry and feel a sense of community.”
Amy has been operating Perfect Match as an online bookstore since April. She aims to build a welcoming, inclusive space for readers, and has already gotten a head start on connecting with the community by doing local deliveries, participating in local pop-up events, and starting an in-person romance book club.
After monitoring romance bookstore activity and growth for almost 6 months, I’ve noticed that starting small before opening a bricks-and-mortar location is a common trend. 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.
There are currently 133 physical romance bookstores in nine countries around the world, 77% of which are in the United States, 11% in Australia, and 5% in Canada. From 2022 to 2024, the number of physical romance bookstores worldwide increased 856% from 9 to 86 stores (see the latest numbers).
From west to east, the Canadian romance bookstores are:
Perfect Match Bookshop – Vancouver, British Columbia
Slow Burn Books – Calgary, Alberta
Forbidden Library – Calgary, Alberta
The Book Boudoir – Edmonton, Alberta
Pages of Passion Bookstore – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Hopeless Romantic Books – Toronto, Ontario
Joie de livres – Montreal, Quebec
See the full Romance Bookstore Directory.
Happy reading! 💜