09/16/2026
Since Sweethearts is brand new, I want to let you in on a little tradition we have over at Story Hollow. 💗📚
Every month, I share our book count — how many books we need to sell each month to keep the bookstore healthy, compared with how many actually went home with readers.
Why share something like this publicly? Because our community genuinely wants to know how we’re doing. And instead of a vague “business is good” or “it’s been a tough month,” a scale of ‘books sold’ is the simplest, most measurable way I’ve found to show you.
At Story Hollow, our benchmark is about 1,000 books per month. Some months we squeak past it, some months we blow right through it, and sometimes we come up a little short. August was one of those months: 989 books — only 11 shy!
And then September brought something completely new: Sweethearts. 💗
The welcome Sweetwater has given this tiny romance bookstore has been incredible. Between Sweethearts’ grand opening and everyone continuing to support Story Hollow in Madisonville, we’re currently on track for around 1,147 books this month.
So when you see these numbers pop up each month, that’s what they mean. It’s not a sales pitch or a scoreboard — it’s our way of letting the communities that support us see how their independent bookstores are doing.
And now Sweethearts gets to be part of the count. 🥰
Every romance you pick up here, every Story Hollow purchase, preorder, event, recommendation and share helps keep independent bookstores in our two small East Tennessee downtowns.
Thank you, Sweetwater, for making us feel so welcome. We can’t wait to see what these numbers look like with you along for the ride. 💗
📍 504 N Main St | Downtown Sweetwater
🕰 Thursday & Friday 10am–6pm | Saturday 9am–4pm
🌐 SweetheartsTN.com
