Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – The Living Room Bookstore & Café has recently opened in Marina Vallarta, offering Puerto Vallarta residents in general and those living in that neighborhood, in particular, a new source of new and gently used English language books.
The project is the brainchild of Kelly Casey, who moved to Puerto Vallarta from Portland, OR slightly over a year. What’s remarkable about her is that she made the decision to move to Puerto Vallarta permanently and start a business with only one previous visit to our city.
“I’ve had a Facebook friend from Puerto Vallarta for many years who put the idea of moving to Mexico in my head some time ago,” she explains. “I began researching several anglophone-friendly destinations in Mexico, including Puerto Vallarta, through social media and other online communities, paying attention to how people interacted with one another. Puerto Vallarta seemed to stand out with people being friendly and tolerant online, and it seemed like the type of lifestyle I would want to enjoy.”
Kelly came to Puerto Vallarta for her birthday in June 2017 and was invited to a party where she met many wonderful people that remain friends to this day. It was just a matter of time before she decided to make the move.
“I knew I wanted to have my own business and kept hearing that people were looking for a bookstore in Marina Vallarta,” she adds. When it was time to move, she shipped somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 books she obtained from a used book distributor that had purchased them from Barnes & Noble shops that were closing down in the US, so many of the books are brand new.
Something that sets The Living Room Bookstore & Café aside is a dedicated children’s bookstore, the only one of its kind in Puerto Vallarta. In addition, the venue offers comfortable seating areas to enjoy locally grown organic coffee, flavored teas and other light fare. “I conceived it as more than a bookstore. I wanted a place where a community can unfold, where people can not only shop for a book but enjoy conversations with friends or even have a business meeting.”
The Living Room Bookstore & Café is located on Timón St. right next to the lighthouse. For more information, find them on Facebook.
A musician-turned-multimedia journalist, Paco Ojeda has been living in Puerto Vallarta since December 2001, describing the city and its surroundings through words, pictures and short videos for local, national and international publications ever since. Visit his website, Paco-Ojeda.com, for interesting news, articles, interviews, and reviews created with the approximately 35,000 US citizens and other anglophones living in Puerto Vallarta, in mind.
