Today we’d like to introduce you to Jane Rodriguez
Hi Jane, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve been an avid reader since I was a teenager and the dream of opening up a bookstore has been in my heart since then too. My name is Jane Rodriguez and I opened Orlando’s romance only bookstore! I read exclusively romance and I wanted to create a space that celebrated the romance genre. Romance is the fastest growing genre in all of publishing, and trailblazers like The Ripped Bodice showed us how we can have the spaces we desire. I knew that I always had a dream of opening a bookstore and once I realized I could have one that was romance only, that solidified my dream even more. I had been an entrepreneur for the last four years and I had gotten to a point where I was helping other women open their dream businesses and I decided that it was time for me to open mine. In January 2024 I set out to create our business plan along with our branding and social media presence which quickly turned into having a website, doing pop ups in the community, and inevitably opening our brick-and-mortar location in November of 2024!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not been! It has been a struggle of trying to figure out everything on my own, asking for advice where I felt like I could and going piece by piece. The main struggle was figuring out how we were going to open a bookstore financially. No one opens a bookstore with the idea of becoming a millionaire so I had to set my exceptions for that. I’ve been grateful of having the support of my friends, family, and the amazing community we’ve built in Orlando that have helped us out at every single step of the way.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The New Romantics is a romance-only bookstore in Orlando. We specialize in romance sub-genres like contemporary, sports. LGBTQ+, romantasy, dark, historical, young adult, paranormal, and more. Along with romance books we sell a wide variety of sideline items like bookmarks, stickers, tote bags, candles, journals, gift bags, gift cards, etc. Anything you need to curate the perfect gift for the romance reader in your life! We are most proud of the community that we have built that showed up for us and have continued to show up for us daily in our store and throughout all of our events!
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I wear so many hats in our business! I have a business background that helped us tremendously, but I also create all the social media graphics and content that you see on our platforms, I balance our books, I created and update our website, I help to plan and execute all the events that we put on (with the amazing help of my events coordinator Sarah and our events team), I order all the inventory, and I open the store on most days!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thenewromanticsbooks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewromanticsbooks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenewromanticsbooks/
Image Credits
Photos by: Madison Leigh Photography
