Fire wrecks romance bookstore. Fans step in, make real-life happily ever after.

Jamie Fortin dumped her heart and savings into her dream of opening a bookstore that sells romance novels. Starting the small business consumed her for more than a year, and in November, she painted the walls, then celebrated the grand opening of her shop in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

Three days later, she got a call around midnight.

The building that housed her second-story bookstore filled with happily-ever-after titles was in flames.

Fortin rushed to her Friends to Lovers Bookstore and was devastated at the sight. Firefighters put out the blaze, but almost nothing was salvageable.

“The minute I walked in, I just cried,” said Fortin, 28, explaining that her bookstore was extensively damaged, along with a chocolate store and a children’s boutique in the building.

The fire was deemed accidental, but investigators are still looking into the cause. Fortin said all of the books, shelves and furnishings in her shop were ruined by smoke. Plastic burned in the fire, she said, making the smoke carcinogenic.

“We had to throw almost everything out, and it was absolutely crushing,” she said.

It was hard to get her head around the idea that all her hard work and savings went up in smoke.

Fortin, a full-time lobbyist, said she’d become an avid reader of romance novels during the COVID pandemic to escape the day-to-day doldrums of being stuck at home while she was attending American University as a graduate student studying labor rights. She also said she’d joined millions of enthusiastic fans of romance novels on TikTok with hashtags #booktok and #romancebooks.

Last year, she decided to step up her obsession and open the D.C. area’s first romance bookstore as a safe and comfortable space for women and LGBTQ+ people, who are among the genre’s biggest fans.

Romance novels have recently surged in popularity, and to meet the demand, more than 20 romance bookstores have opened across the country since 2016, including the Ripped Bodice in Culver City, California, and Brooklyn; Wanderlust Book Boutique in Fort Pierce, Florida; and Meet Cute in La Mesa, California.

When Friends to Lovers opened in Old Town on Nov. 14, romance readers – mostly young women – were lined up around the block to buy novels along with store merchandise, Fortin said.

“I bought a bunch of baklava to give to people waiting to get in,” she said. “Between the soft opening and grand opening, I did $40,000 in sales. It was such a joyful day and it was exciting to be off to a great start.”

After the fire, Fortin wondered how she’d start over, just a few weeks before Thanksgiving. She’d recently placed a $20,000 order for more romance novels, and she had nowhere to put them. She worried about her five part-time employees.

She quickly decided to organize a GoFundMe for the shop and was stunned by the response. Within days, people rallied and chipped in what they could, donating more than $46,000. The fundraiser got a bump when NPR covered romance readers’ efforts to keep the bookstore going.

“When I saw the news about the fire, my heart broke for Jamie,” said customer Katie Simek, 36, who pitched in $50. “I could only imagine the uncertainty she was feeling.”

Simek said she wanted to support Fortin during the holiday season and embrace her idea of turning Friends to Lovers into an inclusive spot for everyone.

“I love having safe spaces for the bookish community,” she said. “Reading is usually an individual activity, but bookstores – especially genre-specific ones like Friends to Lovers – are an opportunity for readers to spontaneously come together and connect over shared interests.”

Old Town business owners, including Lisa Katic who runs the boutique Wine Gallery 108, set up shelves in their shops to help sell books for Fortin during the holiday season. Katic gave Fortin enough space for a pop-up shop in exchange for a small monthly fee until she can find a permanent location.

Fortin said the search for a new spot may take several months, but thanks to Katic’s offer, she can continue to pay her employees while they work at the pop-up shop. She said she is working with her insurance company to see what can be covered.

“I’ve been in business for just over seven years, and I know all too well how difficult it is to operate in a world where big box stores and online platforms crowd out small independent operators,” Katic said.

“It was an obvious fit to offer my space to her,” she added.

Fortin said she was overwhelmed by the strangers who came together to support her bookshop.

“The community really stepped up, and I’m so grateful for that,” she said. “At my grand opening, I told the customers, ‘This is as much yours as mine.’ I know they really want this community to thrive.”

Even in those three days before the fire, Fortin said she’d noticed people striking up friendships at her store.

“People felt safe and welcomed, and that’s worth more than anything to me,” she said. “In a transient place like D.C., little places like this become even more important.”

Now that she’s well on her way to writing a new chapter, Fortin is encouraging people to help Little Birdies Boutique, the children’s shop that lost everything in the fire and now has a GoFundMe page. (The chocolate shop plans to relocate soon, she said.)

“I feel so thankful and honored to have earned the trust of the community so quickly,” Fortin said. “We need to lift each other up and be there for each other.”

Maham Javaid contributed to this report.