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The storefront of the new I Love You So Much Books. (Photos courtesy Mariela Gavino)
An itinerant used-book seller business is turning the page with its first brick-and-mortar shop.
I Love You So Much Books, which started as a pop-up in late 2023, is expected to open this week at 119 W. Brookland Park Blvd. in the city.
The 1,300-square-foot space formerly housed Scrap RVA, a nonprofit thrift store and donation center that relocated to 322 W. Brookland Park Blvd. in September.
Prior to opening I Love You So Much, owner Mariela Gavino studied film at VCU and spent years working in the film and music industries, including as a script supervisor. She said a love for literature and a growing pile of books in her home led her to start I Love You So Much as a pop-up.
"The pop-ups kind of happened out of hating my day job," Gavino said. "I wanted to do something a little more fulfilling."
Over the last year Gavino had pop-up booths at holiday and vintage markets in Richmond and Brooklyn, New York, where she has family. She said it was a longtime dream to someday open a brick-and-mortar space, though she hadn't anticipated it coming to fruition so soon after starting the pop-ups.
Mariela Gavino
But when Gavino saw in an Instagram post that the Brookland Park space had opened up, she said she thought it might just be the perfect place for her dream to become reality.
As a customer of Scrap RVA, she said she felt like she knew the space already.
The new shop will carry a mix of used and new books from literary fiction to radical non-fiction to short stories, and will include works from local and international authors. It will also have a small selection of CDs, DVDs and vinyl records.
All books in the shop are hand-picked by Gavino, who said she took her time sourcing inventory to try to create a diverse range for customers.
"We're trying to have a good selection of unique titles, something you might not find at a big-box store," she said. "We're trying to make it so people get exposed to a lot more different authors and different narratives."
ILYSM Books will have a mix of new and used titles.
The shop will host community events like poetry readings and live music. Gavino also hopes it can be a space for book club meetings as needed.
"It's nice to offer this neighborhood a place to stay and hang out rather than to just pass through," she said.
Gavino's penchant for books and movies with long titles led her to the tongue-in-cheek name for her business.
"I believe that's a phrase people should be saying a lot more," Gavino said. "I just thought it would be nice if you're talking about a bookstore and you say, 'I love you so much.'"
Aptly opening with a soft launch on Valentine's Day, shop is planned to be open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., though those hours are subject to change.
The shop will host a soft launch party that's open to the public on Feb. 14 from 4 to 8 p.m. and a grand opening vendor market on Feb. 15 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Gavino plans to make the bookshop her full-time gig as a one-woman operation for now.
Asked for a book title that encapsulates what ILYSM Books will be, Gavino said "All About Love" by Bell Hooks (stylized "bell hooks") pretty much sums it up.
"It's not just about romantic love. It talks about platonic love and community love," she said. "I think that's a good foot we want to put here in this neighborhood."
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