A new store in the Glebe is tantalizing Ottawa’s romance book community – but one retail analyst says niche retailers like it will need to rely on loyal customers and community events to be viable in the long term. Last spring, self-proclaimed “big romance reader” Amanda Holmes heard about romance-only bookstores opening across Canada. “About […]
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A new store in the Glebe is tantalizing Ottawa’s romance book community – but one retail analyst says niche retailers like it will need to rely on loyal customers and community events to be viable in the long term.
Last spring, self-proclaimed “big romance reader” Amanda Holmes heard about romance-only bookstores opening across Canada.
“About this time last year, I was looking for a similar store in Ottawa, and when I found that there was none, I thought maybe I should be the one to open a romance-only bookstore in Ottawa,” she told OBJ on Wednesday.
So, she quit her job to start working on her passion project. On March 21, Holmes opened the doors to Evermore Books, a romance-only “booktique” near the corner of Bank Street and Fifth Avenue.
The store sells books across the romance genre and at varying levels on the “spice guide” – Evermore’s metric to how explicit a book is.
When doors opened at 10 a.m., the line to get in was around the block. Given the recent sales trajectory of romance novels, it’s not surprising.
Romance books have been booming in popularity in recent years. Data published by Booknet Canada shows that novels in the romance genres were responsible for half of book sales for adult titles between July 2019 and June 2022.
In Ottawa, that trend is clearly evident. During a BookNet Canada webinar in March, Cole Davidson, co-owner of The Spaniel’s Tale on Wellington Street West, said sales for romance books were up 96 per cent, while sales of romance-fantasy, or “romantasy,” books were up 22 per cent year-over-year.
Both romance and “romantasy” were gaining traction in 2024 thanks in part to content creators on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, Joe Zador, manager of Black Squirrel Books on Bank Street, told OBJ at the time.
“We have definitely noticed (BookTok) affecting certain genres or titles,” Zador said in November 2024, referring to TikTok videos talking about books.
“I’ve noticed an increase in popularity for romance and fantasy writing … what used to be considered young adult writing, but specifically read by people of all ages, which is great to see,” he said, adding that popular titles included Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses and Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing.
In fact, the top-selling book in Canada in 2025 was Onyx Storm, the third book in Yarros’s “romantasy” Empyrean series.
In addition, the romance genre experienced another boom last year when Crave debuted Heated Rivalry, a TV show adaptation of Canadian author Rachel Reid’s Game Changer series following the steamy romance between hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov.
Retail analyst Craig Patterson said he expects that hype for both the story and romance genre writ large to continue, especially as Heated Rivalry may set its second season in Ottawa.
However, a barrier to success for bookstores, regardless of the genre served, will be online retailers such as Indigo and Amazon, Patterson said.
“One of the big problems we see with physical retail is people finding cheaper prices online, and that’s a big concern right now. Consumers are a bit more value-conscious. Perhaps they might gravitate towards something that’s a little cheaper,” he explained.
But, if interest in a niche wanes, Patterson said it may be time for retailers to look at diversifying their product offerings.
“To get people into the store, they would need to have an experiential concept, like having book signings and things that you could do in-person but can’t do online,” he added.
Only two weeks into running her business, Holmes said she’s already thought about worst-case scenarios and how to tread water.
“I think it would be silly not to think about what the future could look like. If romance stops being a seller, I would probably expand to start selling other genres (such as) fantasy or more contemporary women’s fiction just to make it a little more general,” Holmes said, adding she might look at how to generate alternate revenue streams during the slow season at the beginning of the year.
Beyond selling books, Holmes said her intention is for Evermore to be a community space.
“Romance itself has the stigma of not being real literature. So, I really want (Evermore) to be a space for community, for women to come in and not feel shamed or judged for the genre that they want to create or like to read,” she said.
To create community, Holmes is already working on organizing events such as an after-hours event and a book-launch party.
Evermore is the only store of its kind in Ottawa. But Patterson said it could be the beginning of a trend of niche retailers in the city, especially as more vinyl record stores compete with catch-all music stores in Canada.
“As long as people are brave enough to do it and can work out a financial model that’s going to make sense, I think there’s a market for (niche retail). I think that market is growing,” Patterson said.
Patterson added that Evermore is well-positioned for success on Bank Street.
“When you have a physical retail location, the question will always be, ‘Why is it there?’ Is it attracting people that you can’t get online? Foot traffic on a street is like SEO on a website,” he said. “(Evermore) is in a great neighbourhood. It’s got some of the higher rents in Ottawa, but it has foot traffic and it’s a gathering place, so it’s perfect for a retailer like that.”
Two weeks after opening her store, Holmes said she’s cautiously optimistic about the business, with early sales doing well.
“(Sales) are really good right now, but I think that’s not a realistic view of what I can expect because the store is very much in its infancy. People are certainly coming in because they’ve seen it on Instagram, TikTok or the news. I’ve definitely seen some return customers already in the two short weeks I’ve been open.
“A lot of people are still coming in. I think into the summer that’ll continue with foot traffic (picking up) in the Glebe with the nice weather,” Holmes said.
Both Patterson and Holmes say it’s unlikely that romance will fall out of fashion in the literary community.
“I very much think that romance is one of the more popular fiction genres and it always has been. We’re seeing BookTok and social media, with influencers reviewing and recommending books. I don’t think that’s going away anytime soon,” Holmes said.
