Flame & Fable is Cleveland's first "romantasy" bookstore
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Flame & Fable opened last month in Lakewood. Photos: Sam Allard/Axios
When Flame & Fable opened last month in Lakewood, there was a two-hour line out the door.
Why it matters: It's the first bookstore in the Cleveland area dedicated to romance and fantasy titles, and its instant popularity testifies to the pent-up demand for these genres.
Zoom out: Flame & Fable joins a growing roster of stores and pop-ups dedicated to selling romance novels that have debuted in cities like Chicago, Minneapolis and Indianapolis in the last year.
💠Sam's thought bubble: My wife is a certified #romantasy addict, and she joined me as an expert witness when I went to check it out this week.
- My first thought was that the selection seemed somewhat limited, but she assured me the titles had been curated by someone deeply familiar with the genres in question.
- She bought "Quicksilver" by Callie Hart, which evidently is "big on Goodreads."
What they're saying: Owner Nickie Lui, who worked at Overdrive for eight years before setting out on her own, told Cleveland Scene that she saw Flame & Fable as a community space as much as a bookshop.
- "There's a movement among women in the millennial age group in particular, where we're kind of like reclaiming romance for ourselves," she said.
Stop by: 13439 Detroit Ave., right across from St. Ed's.
Go deeper: Romance books are having a moment