The Ripped Bodice romance-only bookstore opened Friday in the Culver City neighborhood of Los Angeles. The venture, launched by sisters and co-owners Bea and Leah Koch, "was made possible by a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, which raised $90,000 in its first month," L.A. Magazine reported, adding that "the shop doesn't just embrace the romance novel genre; it is explicitly out to break down the stigma associated with the books: a common misconception is that erotica, a sub-genre of romance novels otherwise known as 'smut,' is the norm."
"Romance novels do not generally have a great reputation and historically, we have not been great as a country about being open to female sexuality," said Leah Koch.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that the Ripped Bodice "is not your mother's bookstore. It is not your father's or your brother's bookstore either or like anyone's bookstore for that matter: it's a romance-only bookstore.... To the uninitiated the breadth of romance novels is surprising."
"The store isn't in alphabetical order," Koch said. "It's actually split up into sub-genres [video section tours available on Twitter]. We've got a wide variety of romance books. We've got a YA section and an NA [new adult] section--books for adults 18 to 25. And we've got a separate section for paranormal and erotica." Other sub-genres include suspense, cowboy, Christmas, inspirational, historical and LGBTQ.
Asked about what motivates them run a brick-and-mortar bookstore, they "explain it's the love of creative space and they have no worries about the future of their business," the Hollywood Reporter wrote.
"There is pressure," Bea Koch conceded. "But it's kind of this wonderful responsibility to have this special thing. There's something about being in a space drinking wine and chatting about your books that is so comforting and that's what we want to provide."
