Beausoleil Books, an independent bookstore with a general-interest inventory, and the Whisper Room, an attached speakeasy-style bar, are opening in a 3,000-square-foot storefront in downtown Lafayette, La., later this year, the Acadiana Advocate reported.
Owner Bryan Dupree is opening the business with three friends he met during law school at Louisiana State University. The bookstore will carry classics, national bestsellers and titles by local and diverse authors, and the store will have a large children's section. Dupree, who is fluent in French, will be partnering with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy to promote French literature at his store.
"We will be their only Louisiana partnership," Dupree told the Advocate. "This has been the most exciting part for me, promoting French literacy in Louisiana, especially with all of the children's books we're going to have. Reading in French at a young age is a wonderful thing."
Dupree explained that he initially had the idea for the store when a group of French tourists asked him if there was a store nearby where they could buy postcards. There wasn't, and Dupree's spark of inspiration was wanting to remedy that.
The Whisper Room, meanwhile, will serve craft cocktails, specialty wines and local beers. Customers will be able to access the Whisper Room from Beausoleil Books, but it will also have its own street-front entrance. Both spaces will have ample seating and, when it is once again safe to do so, Dupree plans to host storytime sessions and a variety of other events. He plans to integrate the bookstore and the bar in a number of ways, including having rotating cocktails and candles tied to a book of the month.
Dupree is eyeing an opening date in October.