A hopeless romantic and book lover’s dream exists in real life, and it manifests in The Ripped Bodice. Located in Culver City, California, this romance-only bookstore is the first of its kind in the United States. The books range from erotica, to historicals, to lesbian romance.

In an interview with Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast host Jenna Wrenn, co-owner Leah Koch discusses her journey to open The Ripped Bodice with her sister, Bea.

About The Ripped Bodice

The Ripped Bodice is proudly woman and queer owned. The Koch sisters opened their bookstore in 2016 after completing their undergraduate degrees in 2015. They quickly realized their initial career path wasn’t the right choice for them. Leah and Bea decided to open a shop together and narrowed their products down to books, specifically romance novels. 

“The initial idea we had was ‘shop,’” Leah said. “We should be like shopkeepers because it’ll be like we’re on Gilmore Girls… and let me tell you, it’s really not! The notion seemed very romantic to us.”

As Leah was doing her research, she was surprised to find that there were no other bookstores solely dedicated to romance. Rather than shy away from the idea, the duo was ambitious to get this project off the ground.

“In the classic fashion of being at the time 22 and 24 years old, instead of the fact no one was doing it scaring us off, we were like ‘Well clearly there’s a huge hole in the market, and we are the ones to fill it,’” Leah said.

Since the two were young and had little-to-no business expertise or money, they turned to crowdfunding. They managed to raise $90,000 on Kickstarter, mostly from strangers who were excited about the concept of a romance-only bookstore. The two completed the Kickstarter in October 2015 and opened their store on March 4, 2016.

Since its opening in 2016, The Ripped Bodice has opened one other brick-and-mortar store in Brooklyn, New York. The bookstore hosts events such as book club, comedy shows, midnight releases parties, and book signings, to name a few.

Leah looked back on the early days of operating The Ripped Bodice and was always confident in its success. 

 “Of course I thought (The Ripped Bodice) was going to be successful!” Leah said. “When we opened the first store, we were like ‘You cannot do anything else for three years. You have to grow the roots and build a really solid foundation.’”

The Ripped Bodice is located at 3806 Main St, Culver City, CA 90232 and 218 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215.

About “Portrait of a Fangirl” 

“Portrait of a Fangirl” is a series from the team at Temple of Geek. Initially a web series, it has expanded into a podcast, now in its second season. You can watch and listen both here and on our YouTube channel. Hosted by Jenna Wrenn, the project focuses on telling the stories of women who have found inspiration, growth, and power through fandom.