Is it us or are romance novels having a steamy moment? Whether you’re new to the genre or have a massive collection on your shelf, Trope Bookshop has you covered.
Since 2023, Trope Bookshop has been roaming Charlotte as the city’s first romance-only mobile bookstore, thanks to the “Green Girl.” But there’s a new release on the horizon: a brick and mortar is opening in Plaza Midwood on March 1.
City Editor Maria, here. If you’ve read any Sarah J. Maas or Rebecca Yarros books, this is your safe space. We spoke with owner Katie Mitchell about the inspo behind opening a major hub for steamy romance lovers.
Q: How long has Trope been in operation and what inspired you to open the bookshop?
A: I was a reader as a kid. I was obsessed with “Harry Potter.” For us kids born in, you know, ’89 to ’91 or ’92, it was written for us. I loved reading “Twilight” to “Hunger Games,” then somehow ended up with “50 Shades of Grey” in there and then didn’t pick up a book for 10 years.
I feel like a lot of people during COVID, and me and my friends, remembered “oh, we like to read!” It just wasn’t a thing that we talked about. Then TikTok was like really blowing up and “BookTok” and “Bookstagram” and it was really taking off.
I fell back in love with [reading] and got obsessed with BookTok and of course we found The Ripped Bodice, which is like the OG. I’m obsessed with them. I think they’re so fabulous. They were opening up a store in Brooklyn, and I was following along with their renovations, called one of my girlfriends and was like, “you know what? I feel like we could do this. We have nothing like this in Charlotte.”
Then, Trope opened in October of 2023.
Q: Why a green, mobile bookshop?
A: I’m self-funded and didn’t want to take out this huge loan so we went the mobile route and found a bus where all good searches start — Facebook Marketplace. I saw her I was like, “well, this is my girl!”
As far as why she’s green... I mean, why not? The concept of a romance-only bookstore is not new and novel. But I noticed that a lot of the stores focused on romance books are typically hyper-feminine and a lot of pink, a lot of white. It’s great and very girl-power and that is totally us too. But I was like, that’s not my vibe at all. I wanted to make the visuals and the vibes unique and different. So it’s much more comfy-cozy sort of like an English pub, darker, moody, broody vibes.
I have a lot of green in my home and I was like, you know what, I feel like green might be our color. It just spoke to me and that was it.
Q: How has it been seeing the excitement go from the Green Girl to getting a bigger space?
A: Oh my gosh, I’m so excited. I feel like we were sort of at an inflection point with the bus. I was incredibly lucky — it was a lot of hard work — but it went super well and we really have hit our stride and hit a point where it was time to start thinking about our options. Like, do we invest in like a second bus? Do we start entertaining a second bus or a new bus or pivot? So we started looking for a storefront. I’m so excited and frankly, there will be more room. We needed more space.
Q. So what can we expect in the store compared to the bus?
A. We’ll have the heavy hitters like Rebecca Yarros, Emily Henry, your Sarah J. Maas, Allie Hazelwood. But I wanted to have books that were harder to find like indie published or local authors. Obviously we’re gonna have the greatest hits, we’re gonna have the new, hot releases that everybody’s talking about. But I also want to have an offering of, “hey, while you’re getting this really big well-known thing, check out this local author who published herself” or “check out this author who is indie published and really blowing up on TikTok.”
Q. When the shop opens, will you be hosting like events of any kind?
A. We want to be able to host more author signings and book talks. It’s hard to book somebody to come and do a book signing when I don’t have anywhere for them to set up inside the bus. So that was a huge factor. But I love to host stuff. I like to have community and feel like people have a place they can bring their new book or do a signing. That’s really important to me.
Q. Last but not least, what are you reading right now?
A. I am reading “Tale of the Heart Queen” by Nisha J. Tooly. It’s the fourth and final installment in the series and I’m re-listening to “Iron Flame” to get ready for “Onyx Storm.”
Fun fact: January’s Iron Flame book club meeting by Trope brought 300+ people to Resident Culture South End.
As for visiting the bookshop before the storefront opens, follow the Green Girl on social media. The storefront opens March 1 at 1516 Lyon Ct. in Plaza Midwood. We’ll be there.
