by Meredith Thompson

Slow Burn Books, “Calgary’s ultimate destination for romance book lovers,” is located in southwest Calgary’s boutique shopping area, Marda Loop. Surrounded by consignment, jewellery, and home goods stores, as well as candle shop, wine shop and more, sisters Nicola and Shannon MacNaughton have found the perfect spot, Shannon tells me as she sits down to chat on a Thursday afternoon. She smiles widely as she paints a scene for me, a born-and-bred Edmontonian, of this idyllic spot in Calgary, and I find myself enchanted by what sounds like a dream come true for these two sisters. Listening to Shannon describe it makes me think how much the coming together of this boutique bookstore itself sounds like a plot for one of the romance novels that line its shelves.

“COVID was really the start of my sister reading much more romance than she ever had,” Shannon says, describing Nicola’s lockdown-induced dive into ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses, the fantasy romance series by Sarah J. Maas) and Beach Read by Emily Henry. “That was really the beginning,” Shannon smiles. “Three years into her being obsessed with romance she came to me — in early 2023 this was — and suggested starting a romance bookstore,” Shannon recounts. The Canadian market seemed relatively stark for romance destinations, and Shannon was quickly drawn into Nicola’s enthusiasm. It was a unique idea, and Shannon wanted a new challenge and to try something entrepreneurial, especially with a trusted and enthusiastic business partner like her sister.

They began, somewhat counter-intuitively, with the space. Shannon called the landlord of a vacant space in the Marda Loop and agreed to a viewing the next day. The sisters fell in love with the space. It was well located, reasonably sized for the small venture they were imagining, and part of a vibrant community. They signed the lease a week later and opened two months after that. “The opposite of how businesses normally run,” Shannon laughs. “We decided to give it a shot,” she says. “It was a big learning curve. You have to do everything yourself, and there’s no safety net. But we wanted to try and see where we landed.” A risky venture for anyone, but seemingly well worth the risk.

“The community has been amazing!” Shannon beams. “We nearly sold out on the first day. We were staying up late into the night reordering books as quickly as possible.” Shannon attributes a  large part of their community response to social media and the narrative they managed to create with their surrounding community of potential readers, who watched them through the process of construction and opening. That community has become more and more fundamental to the business as the years have gone on. Regulars come back again and again, friendships were formed, and new readers continue to be made. 

Romance is a vulnerable genre. It is often considered less serious than other forms of literature, but Shannon pushes back against that stereotype. “Romance has driven so much of the fiction sales for decades,” she says. “These books are plot driven, well written, and they make people happy. Reading should be fun!” Shannon talks about the number of people who come into the store and say that they haven’t picked up a book in years but want to get back into it and ask her how to begin. “Romance books start conversations and create community,” Shannon says. “And the recurring orders from regulars are so lovely to see,” she says, smiling, “and really show the support. When it comes to pricing, Amazon will always beat independents, which is what it is. But having the support of local readers, and local authors, means so much to us. It means we can have our dream jobs.”

Slow Burn’s community mentality is baked into every part of their store. They run a monthly book club and have intake forms for indie/self-published authors on their website. There is even a section on “Add to our TBR list” so that all readers can suggest what the store should get in stock. “Being niche makes it more interesting,” Shannon says. “You can be more curated within romance itself, because there is such a range, from historical to monster. We’ve had to limit ourselves, mostly due to the space, to about six subgenres: fantasy, contemporary, sports, monster, YA, and dark. We don’t currently have historical, and we don’t have poetry.” They run events, including readings, signings, launches, and Indie markets, like the one coming up in April. They co-organize Romance Invades the Canadian Rockies, a signing and author meet-and-greet event in Calgary, and have enjoyed partnerships with Wordfest in Calgary. They also started an Indie Bookstore Day bus crawl through Calgary that is in its second year running, sponsored by Raincoast Books.

“We’ve learned in the two years since we opened,” Shannon says, “about so many aspects of the industry, and we are excited to learn more.” They are full of ideas and vivacious charm, and I can’t wait to see what they do next. 

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