Shop Talk is an occasional feature in which fledgling independent booksellers take Q&Q into their stores and share their reasons for opening and what business has been like so far. 

Slow Burn Books
1934 34 Ave SW Unit 115
Calgary, Alberta

When sisters Nicola and Shannon MacNaughton decided to open a bookstore, they were addressing a particular need they saw in their community: a haven for readers of romance novels who enjoy perusing titles in person. 

Drawing on Nicola’s background in commerce and marketing and Shannon’s background in business and entrepreneurship, they decided in early 2023 to take the plunge when a space became available in Calgary’s Marda Loop, a walkable shopping and dining area in the city’s southwest that has many other small businesses. 

The pair opened the 200 square foot store on May 6 – and had a lineup of customers outside waiting to come in all day long. 

“Even our opening day blew our expectations out of the water,” Nicola MacNaughton said. 

She spoke to Q&Q about what the first few months of business have been like for Slow Burn Books.  

Why open Slow Burn Books in 2023? What was it about your community that inspired you to open the store?

Our desire to start this business stemmed from the knowledge that our bookstore would fill a very specific need in the marketplace: we would be combining people’s love for romance novels with their love for shopping at bookstores. While we will never be able to compete with Amazon in terms of pricing, what we offer is a haven for romance lovers. Seeing other romance bookstores popping up around the globe validated our belief that this is something that could be successful, which is why we jumped at the opportunity early in 2023. 

How has the community responded to the store?

The response has been absolutely phenomenal. We have the most amazing support from readers in Calgary and beyond – including Edmonton readers who drive all the way down to our store for the day. It’s really incredible. We opened at 10 a.m. on May 6, and had a line outside the door until 5:30 that night. Talk about running on adrenaline! 

How do you reach potential readers?

We’ve had a number of radio interviews and one TV interview, which was a great way to reach our local audience, but really the majority of our shoppers find us through TikTok or Instagram. We were able to tap into a unique and active subculture of passionate users on these platforms. We were fortunate enough that our second post on Tiktok went viral. As someone who worked in the marketing industry prior to this, I knew that going viral is not a common occurrence. We are so thankful that we were able to have that initial reaction, which has truly set us up for everything that came after. 

Can you tell us a little bit about your special focus?

Our goal is to differentiate ourselves from the big-box bookstores by featuring a variety of indie-published and traditionally published novels across a range of romance sub-genres, such as contemporary, fantasy/paranormal, sports, erotica, mafia, dark, YA, and clean. Our diverse selection will also include representation in both the characters and the authors who write these books, from 2SLGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. Some of our favourite authors are self-published, and we aim to highlight their work alongside traditionally published titles. We also are working on rolling out online sales in the next couple of months to reach a broader audience.

What has been most surprising or unexpected about opening a bookstore or about your first few months in business?

The level of support and the sheer voracity of repeat customers is truly incredible. Inventory management has been a challenge, but we’ve been working on finding the right balance of titles and authors. Next up is bringing historical and monster romance sections to the store. We are going to fill every bit of the 200 square feet we have available. Perhaps the most surprising thing (or not surprising at all) is that we have way less time to actually read. Regardless, we wouldn’t change a thing and we’re so excited for what the future brings.

This interview has been edited and condensed.