Jamie Freeman’s new TBR Books & Tea is all about stories, sips and socializing
Back in October, Jamie Freeman took a different route home. “I noticed this space next to Baton Rouge Succulent Company was available for rent,” she says. “I immediately turned my car around and was like, this might really be it.”
In the months leading up to this chance encounter, Freeman had stepped away from full-time work with nonprofit associations to focus on learning all she could about opening an independent bookstore. Having majored in film production in college and sought a different career path post-grad, this bookshop dream was something born out of a 2019 reader’s retreat that she took to Louisville, Kentucky, with the online-based Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club.
“I was surrounded by my people, and I started thinking, what if I could do this all of the time and create a space for others to do the same,” Freeman recalls. “Throughout my journey to realizing this dream, they have been so supportive—everyone in my life has. I’m so grateful.”
Freeman says she has always been one to dream big. “I always knew I wanted to do something,” she notes. Over the years, that “something” has morphed from a young dream of a tea shop to her college life acting and movie-making to this now-realized venture that combines all of her passions in some way or another, whether it be through her decision to offer tea within the bookshop or simply the sharing of stories, now through pages rather than on the big screen.
Dubbing the shop TBR Books & Tea in a nod to the popular online acronym that stands for “to be read,” the new space on Highland Road will cater to everyone from infants to adults. Over the past few months, Freeman has worked to handpick every title that will fill the TBR shelves. From romance to fantasy to nonfiction and even board books, the selection will reflect the diversity of the local community and the various interests that can all find common ground in the shop.
“I like to read a wide variety—a little of everything,” Freeman says. “So that’s what we will have here—something for everyone.”
In addition to the books themselves, Freeman is looking forward to hosting events like story times, book clubs and even, one day, afternoon high tea.
“A bookstore is a safe space, and people need that,” she says. “I want this to be a place that people feel comfortable coming to hang out, study or work—a place for people to come together.”
TBR Books & Tea will host its grand opening on April 12. Follow along with Freeman on Instagram @tbrbookshop for updates, event information and more.
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