If you build it, they will come. 

That’s the idea behind Reverie Room, a neighborhood bookshop and community space opening next week for bibliophiles to gather, gab and geek out over literature.

Rather than a traditional shop where customers might grab-and-go with their purchases, Reverie Room, located at 655 31st Street S., is designed to encourage people to commune and converse, and ultimately, create community. 

Owner Nichole Coronado in the Romance Room.

“Ideally, hopefully, people come and hang out,” said owner Nichole Coronado. “I love having people connect. I want people to  either bring their friends or meet new people and come make a space together.”

The shop will be open afternoons until the early evenings, with hours to change depending on customer traffic. For now, founder Nichole Coronado plans on welcoming readers from 2 to 8 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.

Reverie will host traditional bookstore programming like book clubs and discussions, but Coronado also has dreams of including a more diverse set of offerings – think genre-bending events like collaborations with pilates studios, workshops on financial literacy with local experts, and audiobook walking clubs. 

“I want people to either start book clubs or have their book clubs here. I want to do events where people can come together and make friends,” she said.. 

“I’d love to have local business people too, maybe do a financial literacy class or things like that, to help people — besides just fitness-wise, help their minds a little bit too.”

There’s a giant bar greeting you upon arrival, inviting you to stick around, maybe order another round (local beer and curated wine will be on the menu once licensing is sorted out) and read 

The space is also huge. At 2,000 square feet, Reverie Room allows you to lose yourself in the enormity of the shop, a good book … or both. 

In addition to being an avid reader, Coronado is also aesthetically-inclined. She designed and furnished all the rooms at Reverie, and each space is infused with her creativity and personality. 

The children’s room.

The kids’ room is medieval fantasy-themed and  filled with shelves upon shelves of children’s books for all ages. There’s plush rug adorned with princesses, dragons, and knights, a kid-size table, and cushy seating for little ones to read on. 

The adjacent room hosts the shop’s nonfiction, sci-fi and horror collection and features nautical adventure decor. There’s a pelican as an homage to St. Pete, a pirate ship for Tampa, and an anchor, the symbol for the sorority of which Coronado was a member in college. 

The “Romance Room” hosts the romance and young adult fiction inventory. A floral display built by Coronado’s mom adorns the space as does a Beauty and the Beast flower cloche. Rounding out the decor is a velvety, regal couch under a pink-neon sign that reads “Lost in Reverie,” inviting people to cozy up to their book and maybe snap a picture while they’re at it.

The Speakeasy room is hidden behind a bookcase door, allowing people to partition the space for private events and rentals. The room has ample seating and an open-formatting to facilitate gathering and connection. 

With a selection ranging from cardboard kids’ books to young adult romance fantasy to dystopic feminist novels, Coronado aims to appeal to a wide range of reader interests and identities. 

“I just want to make sure that everyone’s being represented,” she said. “You don’t realize you’re not represented until you actually see yourself represented. And so for me, it was very important to do that.

 “I did try my best to make sure I was doing a diverse selection of books and not just … one side of the story.”