By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Sisters Lolli Rigor and Liana Colon are living every bookworm’s dream: transforming their vision for a bookstore from fantasy to nonfiction with Claremont’s TBR Books.

The shop at 987 W. Foothill Blvd., Suite 104, opened April 11. It’s primary focus is romance novels, but it also sells science and general fiction, children’s books, biographies, coloring books and some queer and young adult titles.

“There will be something here for everyone no matter what you read,” said Colon. “The only thing we don’t have is cookbooks.”

The 600-square foot space offers seating, and a children’s reading area. Plans are in the works to host community book clubs and family reading sessions. On Saturday, April 25 TBR Books will celebrate Indie Bookstore Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A 2023 trip to Book Bonanza in Grapevine, Texas, served as the sisters’ initial inspiration. But with no experience running a business, they were hesitant. That was until another local entrepreneur encouraged them. “We were talking to Claudia [Martinez] at Black Penny Thrift and we were telling her about our idea, we’ve always wanted to open our own business, and she was just like, ‘Do it. Just do it,’” Colon said.

Now TBR Books sits mere feet from Martinez’s thrift shop. “I love it,” Martinez said. “I’m not a competitor. I just want people to succeed.”

Lariza Rigor, co-owner of TBR Books, pictured at the store on Tuesday. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

The biggest push came from Colon’s husband Daniel, who after hearing the sisters’ dream about opening their store took it upon himself to begin getting the business registered with the state and vetting locations.

“He supports my reading habits, but he’s not as much of an avid reader,” Liana Colon said.

The sisters inked a five-year lease in February and opened two months later.

“We know the value of a good, curated bookstore,” Colon said. “I mean, we would go to Culver City, we would drive to Temecula” to visit other bookstores “and that never even fazed us. We know the value of curating and getting the word out there to people not just in Claremont, but within the surrounding cities, probably within an hour drive, and they will drive. Like the grand opening, we had people from the high desert from Long Beach, and Santa Ana.”

Both mothers and with kids in the Claremont Unified School District system, the sisters have interweaved the district’s accelerated reader system to help students find books.

“We also try to include the Claremont community as far as having like AR reading levels in our books because our kids go to Claremont schools,” Colon said. “Basically, it tells them what books they can read are at that level so they know if they want to go a little bit difficult, [or] a little bit lower.”

And though they have high hopes, the sisters are well aware of the rigors of running a small business.

“At the end of the day it’s still retail,” Colon said. “If we don’t have people come, we don’t have people shopping, you know, we don’t have a bookstore.”

Outside the shop, Rigor is an administrative assistant for alumni engagement at Pomona College; Colon is an accountant for Planned Parenthood.

“This is something we know, it’s something we’re passionate about,” Colon said. “We still have our W-2 jobs. If we’re going to do something that’s going to be extra, we want to do something that we’re passionate about and that we enjoy and that we’re enthusiastic to do the work for free.”

TBR Books, at 987 W. Foothill Blvd., Suite 104, Claremont, is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekends. The new bookstore is currently looking to hire a retail associate and is interested in hosting independent authors for readings and signings. Find them on Instagram at instagram.com/tbrbooks.claremont.