The Story Society: New English bookstore aims to bring 'whimsical' aura for book lovers in Prague

“We don’t want it to be just another bookstore,” Ioana says as we meet in a small café close to the I.P. Pavlova metro station.

A few months ago, the 27-year-old and long-term Prague resident was on a bus to Munich when she stumbled on a social media ad promoting a crowdfunding campaign for a new English-language bookstore: The Story Society, the pet project of Julia, a 29-year-old who’s been living in Prague for over a decade.

After a few phone calls and meetings, Ioana officially joined the project, and the two women are now working hard – they both have demanding corporate office jobs – to make their shared dream a reality.

“What started as one person with a crazy bookstore idea is slowly becoming two women who love books, community, and the idea of creating a place where people can actually meet, read and feel at home,” they say.

Ioana explains what prompted the idea. “We both always wanted to open a place, but when we were young, we always thought, ‘no, it’s probably just a stupid dream, no one is going to be interested.'”

But after some research, they realized that the demand was there: many foreigners living in Prague seemed frustrated with the limited number of options to find good-quality, nicely produced versions of English-language books at a reasonable price, and Czechs, too, appeared more and more interested in reading books in versions other than their native language.

When we met a few weeks ago, Ioana and Julia had already found their main supplier in the UK, finished setting up their inventory and were waiting for the delivery of their future bookstore’s first few hundred books.

They were also actively scouting for locations, mainly looking around for spaces in the Old Town, Vršovice or Vinohrady.

The goal, as Ioana tells us, is to move in and start setting up the bookstore by January next year, with the official opening planned for the following month.

“We’ve been really thrilled to hear that people already heard about our project and started asking about it,” she says, sharing the feedback she got from some English-friendly book clubs. “There’s a very tight community of readers and writers in Prague, everybody knows everybody. It really brings us happiness that those people are talking about it; at the end of the day, we simply believed in our dream.”

We’re still in the early days, but Julia and Ioana have a very precise idea of what their bookstore should look like, and of the sense of community it should give to book lovers.

“It will be very whimsical, colorful and fairytale-like,” Ioana says. “The idea is really that thanks to a brave design, stepping into that bookstore will make you enter a different world."

For Julia, The Story Society should function as a "third place" - somewhere after home and work where people can meet up in a friendly and communal atmosphere.

While they initially thought about focusing on romance and fantasy books – their own personal favorite – they’ve now expanded the inventory to showcase a little bit of everything to cater to different tastes. “We need variety, but we don’t want anything overtly political or religious, nothing that can create fights between people who come there,” Ioana adds.

“Our key purpose is to be an affordable bookstore in Prague,” Ioana says. “Pretty much everyone is struggling in today’s economy, and we don’t think English books should be a luxury. Literature should be affordable and accessible to everybody.”

Yet, the Story Society won’t be just about buying books, they both explain, but rather a safe hub for all bookworms, reading enthusiasts and writers, both amateur and professional. That’s why they’re planning to organize frequent events, from hosting book clubs to talks with authors (both Czechs and foreigners, as long as they’re based in Prague), creative writing workshops, or even thematic ‘blind dates’ with books.

The project is now entering its last stretch, with all four hands on deck to make sure nothing is left to chance. They're building up their social media presence across most of the popular platforms, and dedicate whatever free time they have to get the momentum going, from meeting with authors, socializing within Prague’s book club scene or planning a stand at some upcoming small design markets.

“The entrepreneur’s scene in Prague is a very nice one,” Ioana says. “Everybody has been in our situation in the beginning, so it’s important for us to connect, meet with them and listen to their tips and advice. At the end of the day, I believe in the goodness of people.”