‘Romance Is Revolutionary’: New Queer Woman-Owned Bookstore Comes to Lawrenceville

TIFFY OVERLY OUTSIDE OF HER STOREFRONT AT 4745 BUTLER AVE. IN LAWRENCEVILLE. | PHOTO BY OLLIE GRATZINGER

Love is in the air in Lawrenceville. 

The Shelf Love Society is the passion project of Tiffy Overly, who says the April 11 opening of the city’s newest romance-only bookstore has been more than a year in the making. But she also promises it will be a happy ending well worth the wait.

“I keep pinching myself,” Overly says. “I never thought that I would open a business, but it’s been really exciting and fun and scary.” 

The Pittsburgh-area native has lived in Squirrel Hill for the last 11 years, and has been a nanny or stay-at-home mom for the last 25. But as a voracious reader — she says she read about 300 books last year — Overly struggled to find romance novels in traditional stores that modeled her kind of love. She decided it was time for a change.

“I’m queer, I’m poly, and so finding stories that look like the way my life looks is really difficult, and I hate that,” she says. “The whole emphasis of this was that it should be really easy for people to find love stories that look like the type of love they have, and it’s not. I want to make a place where it is easy.”

In general, traditional bookstores sell about 10% queer fiction and 90% straight fiction, Overly says, but the Shelf Love Society will be half and half on opening, with the intention of skewing more toward LGBTQ+ stories as time goes on. 

The Shelf Love Society is Pittsburgh’s second romance-only bookstore, joining Passionate Pages, also located just a few blocks away on Butler Street, in the niche market. Passionate Pages opened in late January, and Overly says she has visited once. She explains that the Shelf Love Society’s vibes will be a little different, citing its strong focus on diverse, queer and indie voices opposed to romantasy and popular romance.

“The romance industry is large and diverse and there is room for both,” Overly says.

As Overly’s shelves fill with tomes ahead of opening day, a growing number of subgenres are finding themselves represented there, from closed-door romance to spicy passages and just about everything in between. There are also sections for paranormal romance and local indie authors, along with an assortment of stickers, candles and apparel by local makers. 

The store will also have a little nook behind the register that will serve as a playroom for small children, so mothers can shop with peace-of-mind.

THE CHILDREN’S NOOK AT THE SHELF LOVE SOCIETY. | PHOTO BY OLLIE GRATZINGER

“A lot of moms read, and I wanted moms to feel like they can bring their small children in and browse safely without having to worry about their kids,” Overly says. “And I want my 3 year old to be able to feel comfortable here, too.”

The building, which previously held the clothing boutique Morrow & Dean, is smaller than Overly had envisioned when she first began thinking about opening a bookstore, but nevertheless, it was love at first sight. She had been dreaming about Lawrenceville as the ideal neighborhood to host her shop, thanks to its queer-friendly reputation, walkable streets and support for small businesses, but she didn’t think it was possible.

“I was like, ‘That will never happen,’” she says. “There’s not enough turnover. People go in there, and they stay in there. They build roots.”

But her hair stylist, with whom she shares a realtor, told her about the space on Butler Street; she set up a viewing the next day.

“It was kismet,” she says, adding that ultimately, it all boiled down to the wallpaper. 

She had already gotten the finished design package for the bookstore from her graphic designer, and the colors had already been set: dark and sage greens, black accents, baby pink and wine red. When she set foot into the building on Butler Street, she noticed right away that the wallpaper from the previous tenant, which was still in place, matched her color palette to a T.

“I was like, this is just meant to be. Somebody wants me to be in here,” she says.

THE SHOP WAS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN LATE MARCH, BUT THE FLORAL AND VELVET WALLPAPERS FROM THE PREVIOUS TENANT FIT ITS THEME PERFECTLY. | PHOTO BY OLLIE GRATZINGER

The shop’s limited space also forces Overly to curate carefully, she explains, but in this case, less is more.

“I want there to be books for everyone, because being seen is to be loved,” she says. “I hated not having a community and people that understood me and my family and the way we love each other, so I just got stuck on the idea of creating it.”

According to data from BookScan, LGBTQ+ romance novels represent a small but rapidly booming niche; only about 4% of all romance novels feature queer stories and characters, but sales experienced a whopping 40% increase in the year ending May 2023, far outpacing the general romance market. 

It’s something that Overly noticed, too.

“I think romance, especially if you get into spicier romance, does not garner the respect it deserves,” she says. “People want to read about love. Romance is where I found the queer joy stories.” 

And for Overly, queer joy stories are more important now than ever, as some legislation proposed around the U.S. aims to ban books that focus on queer characters, plotlines or themes.

“I keep saying, ‘romance is revolutionary.’ I keep saying that reading is policial. To me, being a queer woman who owns a business is defiant. It is an act of resistance in itself,” she says. “Providing a safe space for people who don’t feel safe in the political climate we live in and who don’t feel represented, to me, is a form of resistance.”

The Shelf Love Society’s grand opening will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 11. Overly says it will feature raffles, giveaways, sugar cookies “and just a lot of excitement.” 

The following day, the shop will host Katey Hawthorne for the first of many book signings with local authors. Hawthorne will be featuring her book “Heart Wood,” an ecofantasy romance, but Overly adds that the shop will carry a few other titles by Hawthorne, too. 

“I have so many ideas and goals, and I’m so excited,” Overly says. “I cannot wait to be able to share everything I’ve been working on with everybody.”

PHOTO BY OLLIE GRATZINGER