About Citrus & Sage Bookshop

Citrus & Sage will be a small-town bookstore that will have a strong inventory in fiction. We will have children's/middle grade books, young adult, romance, fantasy and a little bit of everything else. We want to create a cozy and welcoming place for all readers, no matter what genre you enjoy reading. We plan on having coffee/tea/beer/wine to encourage people to come and hang out in our cozy chairs. We want to work with the community as well, have a day a week where a certain percent of profits goes to Hernando County Library system. We would also work closely with city non-profits and have one featured once a month with a book that would showcase that community and all profits from that book would go towards that non-profit organization. We also want to source as much of our ingredients for our food and beverages from local vendors. Our community is important to us!

About Andrea

Hello! I'm Andrea, the main driving force behind Citrus & Sage! I'm so excited to open this store in Brooksville. Brooksville holds a special place in my heart. My grandparents moved to Brooksville when I was born, they had a farm here with cattle and were very active in the community. We lived here until I was 5 but I spent every summer and many other months here until 2005 and then moved back in 2018. I know my grandparents would be so proud of me opening a bookstore here. I don't want to just open a bookstore; I want to open a place for people to gather and celebrate literature and everything that comes with that. 

Market & Opportunity

Why a bookstore? Brooksville is in need of a bookstore. A bookstore that's sole focus is to create a space for people to come together, connect, and share in their love for reading.  Between 2019 and 2020, it was reported that about 1,700 independent bookselling companies were running about 4,100 stores. The rise of social media has seen a great increase in people wanting to not only support small businesses versus large corporations but an influx of support and content for the book community. With 10 billion BookTok Views and almost 80 Million posts dedicated to books on Instagram, there is a clear need for more independent bookstores. Approximately 900 million books are sold in the US each year. Centrally located between Orlando and Tampa where there are huge book conventions several times a year, we will be able to pull popular authors for events and signings.

We hope to make this a space where folks would want to spend their free time engaging and socializing or just curling up with a book. This community needs a social place with books!

What The Funding Is For

This project is mostly self-funded, and unfortunately because of the hurricane and our personal home getting hit hard, we have had to reallocate some of the funding we had for the bookstore to repairs at home. Although opening and operating a small business can be costly, we will make this work either way but we could really use some help from the community to make this dream happen sooner rather than later. We are looking to raise $10,000 to help with renovations and things we will need, any extra would be wonderful and help us even further reach out goals! This money could help with renovations, furniture, electronics, inventory, and beverages/food appliances or inventory.  

Here is a quick breakdown of different things the money would go towards:

• $10,000: Estimated Space Renovations:  paint, new ceiling, bar area, kitchen renovations, cash wrap area and to move some walls and build new ones! Also, all those architect, permit and inspector fees.
• $8,000: Furniture: bookshelves, tables, chairs, desk, coolers and pastry displays
• $6,000: Electronics: camera system, Point of Sale equipment, alarms, terminal, receipt printer, sound system and I'm sure there is something I forgot.
• $30,000: Book Inventory: I would LOVE to buy as many books as I can and fill the entire store, but we will do what we can! Typically to stock a new store our size this is about the amount we would need to spend.
• $5,000: Merchandise Inventory: the little things like stickers, bookmarks, shirts, tote bags, candles, and so much more! So many cool book items out there.
• $3,000: Food & Beverage Inventory: We want to carry local coffee, tea and local pastries and baked goods as well as some other fun things we have in mind!
• $2,000: Miscellaneous Expenses: Those things that are random that we come across as we set everything up like bags, cups, branded merch, signs and so much more!
• $5,000: Outside Area: We want to build an outdoor area for customers to enjoy on those nice days! We will need a vinyl fence around the building, landscaping, and furniture.

These are all just estimates of things we have in mind for our customers and things we really want to do.