{"id":360775,"date":"2026-08-02T15:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T15:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/360775\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T15:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T15:52:21","slug":"turning-the-page-florida-weekly-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/360775\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning the Page – Florida Weekly"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Book Cafe\u0301, owned by the Lozano family. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

Between the heat, humidity and afternoon thunderstorms, sometimes the best bet for a Floridian in the summertime is to hang indoors with some air conditioning and a good book.\n<\/p>\n

Luckily, South Florida is overflowing with unique and interesting bookstores and libraries.\n<\/p>\n

Here are some of our favorites:\n<\/p>\n

The Book Caf\u00e9, Fort Myers\n<\/p>\n

The Book Caf\u00e9 is a brand-new, family-owned bookstore and cafe in Fort Myers. Owners Albert and Lee Lozano and their two daughters run the business located off Alico Road.\n<\/p>\n

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The Book Cafe\u0301 has been consistently busy since its opening day. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

Lee Lozano says even though The Book Caf\u00e9 just opened in June, word has gotten out in the community, and people have been flocking to check it out.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an overwhelming response,\u201d said Lozano. \u201cWe ran out of coffee in two days. We were not expecting the overwhelming support. It\u2019s been non-stop since we opened.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

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The Book Cafe\u0301 opened in June on Alico Road in Fort Myers. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

The caf\u00e9 menu features different specialty lattes on tap, baked goods and, of course, coffee. The coffee beans are roasted in-house.\n<\/p>\n

The bookstore sells both new and used books. Used books are sold at a flat rate of $6 per paperback and $8 per hardcover. New books are sold at a discount of 25% off the retail value.\n<\/p>\n

The Book Caf\u00e9 serves as a \u201cthird space,\u201d where people can relax, connect and build a sense of community outside of work and home. There is free Wi-Fi, a few tables on the main level, and an upstairs loft space with comfy seating.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have anything like this in Southwest Florida, so we wanted to bring the joy that it brings us to our community,\u201d said Lozano.\n<\/p>\n

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The Book Cafe\u0301 has seating on the main level and in its upstairs loft. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

The Book Caf\u00e9 is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.\n<\/p>\n

Copperfish Books, Punta Gorda\n<\/p>\n

Copperfish Books is one of the cornerstones of historic downtown Punta Gorda\u2019s shopping, arts, and cultural district. It first opened in 2012 and moved to its downtown location in 2020.\n<\/p>\n

Owner Catherine Worden says she feels \u201cprofoundly fortunate\u201d to be able to guide Copperfish Books and is thankful to have such a wonderful staff to work with.\n<\/p>\n

In addition to selling new and used books, Copperfish Books also hosts a variety of different events for the community, including book clubs, workshops, and author readings and signings.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOur knowledgeable booksellers are the soul of our store, helping customers find that perfect book,\u201d said Worden. \u201cOur staff moderates five book clubs, sharing their favorite genres with readers who attend. It\u2019s a great place to hang out!\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The shop sells new and used books and even offers a used book credit program. Customers can trade in their used books, as long as they are in excellent condition, for credit to purchase additional used books at Copperfish Books.\n<\/p>\n

The store also offers a special discount for Florida teachers who are interested in buying books for their classrooms.\n<\/p>\n

Copperfish Books is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Sunday.\n<\/p>\n

Check FloridaWeekly.com<\/a> and upcoming editions for more South Florida book nooks.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Book Cafe\u0301, owned by the Lozano family. -COURTESY PHOTO Between the heat, humidity and afternoon thunderstorms, sometimes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-360775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}