The Book Lounge, a bookstore and wine bar in St. Petersburg, Fla., opened last month, the Gabber reported.
Located at 631 Central Ave. in a 1,600-square-foot space, the Book Lounge carries mostly fiction titles with an emphasis on romance and fantasy. The bar sells wine and a variety of non-alcoholic drinks along with charcuterie boards and other small bites. The store also features board games and card games.
The Book Lounge is owned by mother/daughter team Natalya Calleja and Pamela Calleja. The bookstore's earliest iteration was a blind date with a book business that Pamela Calleja launched last year.
They held a ribbon cutting on November 8 that featured giveaways and prizes and free bookish bags for the first 100 customers.
"As we celebrate our ribbon cutting, Pamela and I feel deeply grateful," Natalya Calleja wrote at the time. "This journey has been full of hard work, long days, and lessons learned. None of it would have been possible without the people who helped us along the way."