Romance Bookstore Update: July 2025
There are now 133 physical romance bookstores worldwide; 9 new physical stores opened in July.
July continued to be a very busy month for romance bookstore openings, as well as discovering more existing bookstores to add to the directory.
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Overview
According to my research, there are now 133 physical romance bookstores in nine countries around the world, 103 (or 77%) of which are in the United States.
If we also include online and pop-up romance bookstores, the total number of stores grows to 243 (175 or 72% of which are in the United States).
Growth of Physical Stores
I discovered 2 more physical romance bookstores that opened before 2025, which changes the previously calculated growth rates. By the end of 2024, there were 86 physical romance bookstores worldwide—up 856% from 9 physical bookstores in 2022. So far there has been a net increase of 47 physical romance bookstores in 2025 (50 have opened, 3 have closed).
When we look specifically at the United States, the growth has been even more dramatic. Over the same two-year period from 2022 to 2024, the number of romance bookstores in the US increased 1180% from 5 to 64. So far there has been a net increase of 39 physical romance bookstores in the US this year (40 opened, 1 closed).
There are now 258 bookstores in the directory—27 were added in July.
The following is a breakdown of bookstores by type: Physical, Online, Pop-up, and Coming Soon along with a list of ALL the recently added and updated stores in each category! This includes some new charts as well. 📊
📌 Please note that these categories overlap—a store can categorized as multiple types. For example, a bookstore can be online and have pop-ups, with a physical location coming soon.