Grump & Sunshine, a bookstore in downtown Belfast specializing in romance novels, is relocating to Portland, according to owner Cassidy James Taylor.
While Belfast has at least two other bookstores — Left Bank Books and Craig Olson Books, which are both downtown — Grump & Sunshine has offered a more niche selection with its focus on romance tales.
Its last day will be Oct. 2.
“As much as we’ve loved having the store here in Belfast, and I’ll deeply mourn losing my community here, we’ve reached the top of the potential that we could reach in Belfast,” Taylor said Wednesday. “Moving to Portland would open a lot of doors for us and give us a bigger audience. It was a business decision.”
Since moving into the storefront at 159 High St. in May 2023, Taylor, who is 28, has also hosted talks with authors and two weekly book clubs. Taylor chose to focus on romance not just because she enjoys reading it, but because it’s the highest-grossing genre on the book market.
By moving to a larger metro area, Taylor expects to host a third book club and welcome more authors to give readings, given the proximity to bigger airports.
“If we want to keep growing and moving forward, moving is just what we have to do,” Taylor said. “My biggest goal, I would say, would just be to build the kind of community that I’ve built here, in Portland; to be able to give a new group of people what I’ve been able to give here would be really special.”
