The Bookshop Podcast

Smitten On Main

• Mandy Jackson-Beverly • Season 1 • Episode 320

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A coastal drive, a hard pivot, and a bookstore built on happy endings. 

In this episode, I chat with Mae Tingstrom, founder and owner of Smitten Books in Ventura. Mae explains how a former tech professional learned to say no, embraced a niche, and turned a retail space into a community hub. From digging trenches and pulling drywall to stocking shelves with books written by women and non-binary authors, her journey is equal parts grit and heart.

We trace the moment she left the Bay Area for a smaller town, why construction took twice the time and three times the budget, and how boundaries saved both her energy and her mission. Mae shares how coffee retail led to a bigger idea: a bookstore that online shopping can’t replicate, because the value isn’t just the book—it’s the community. Think six free book clubs across genres, writing and tarot circles, live music, and workshops that give adults a place to meet outside bars and school pickup lines. Purchases don’t just stay local; they fund the programming that keeps neighbors connected.

Romance is the store’s backbone for a reason: it sells, it heals, and it promises a satisfying ending when the world feels unstable. But listening to readers broadened the catalog—fantasy, general fiction, and a women-authored horror and suspense club now thrive alongside rom-coms and self-care. We also get into Main Street dynamics, from parking advocacy with neighboring shops to the serendipity of foot traffic that still discovers Smitten daily. To cap it off, Mae walks us through a jam-packed Valentine’s Day and two-year anniversary lineup—sales, raffles, live music, hands-on workshops—and a used book fundraiser for a local dog rescue.

If you care about independent bookshops, community building, and the business realities behind feel-good spaces, you’ll find practical insight and plenty of heart here. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who loves indie bookshops, and leave a review to help more listeners discover these stories.

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SPEAKER_02:

Hi, my name is Maisie Jackson Beverly, and I'm a Bibliophile. Welcome to the Bookshop Podcast. Each week I present interviews with authors, independent bookshop owners, and booksellers from around the globe and publishing professionals. To help us go reachable people, please share episodes with friends and family and on social media. And remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to this podcast. To find out more about the bookshop podcast, go to www.thenarrativeexchange.com. You're listening to episode 320. If you're listening to this episode on the day it came out, Happy Valentine's Day, to align with everything romantic, I'm interviewing Mae Kingstrom, who is the owner and founder of Smitten Books in Ventura, California, which is just down the road from me, well, about 11 miles. Mae Kingstrom is the bus lady of Red Keller Coffee in Summerland, California, and Smitten Books store in Ventura. She knew at a young age she wanted to own her own business. Having grown up with her dad being a small business owner, Mae felt passionate about creating a business that would serve a community and support other local and small businesses. Red Keller Coffee was the only coffee shop in Summerland, California for many years, selling locally roasted coffee and locally handmade and small business retail. Building an arts and culture community was May's next passion. That's when Smitten Bookstore was born. Smitten is focused on supporting women and non-binary authors, creators, and hosting many events and workshops. Hi May and welcome to the show. It's great to have you here.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk about books and bookselling. Me too.

SPEAKER_02:

Let's begin with learning about you and your life in the tech world in the Bay Area. I wondered if there was a moment when you first felt misaligned with that world, even if you didn't act on it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think working in corporate um can be a bit uh, as they say, soul, soul sucking. Um and I I think for me, I I kind of always knew I wanted to open my own business. Um, my dad owns his own business. So it was just a matter of like, I thought like I needed to do the like college and then get a real career and make sure you have like a 401k and um benefits and like to to feel like I like made it. And I always saw like the owning my own business like something that I couldn't do until I was like way, way older after I've already done all the things that I thought I needed to do first. So I felt maybe all along my whole career path was kind of just waiting almost for the right opportunity or the right time. But as you know, as they say, there's never a right time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, so I am super grateful for all of the jobs in the in the corporate job that I had. It it you know helped financially to have done that job um before I decided to to finally leave and and do my own thing. And does your dad live nearby now? So um growing up, he was always in Summerland.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, so uh he's now in Golita, but he has every hope to come back towards Summerland.

SPEAKER_02:

This whole area of California is gorgeous. That coastal road, the little towns. Oh my goodness, it's so beautiful. Uh now, was the decision to relocate to Ventura, California more of a pull towards something or a push away from something else?

SPEAKER_01:

I think more towards, but funny enough, because I technically grew up in the area, I wasn't sure if I wanted the biggest thing, actually, was like leaving the Bay Area and going to like a smaller like community. That was actually the the biggest question for me is is if if that's what I wanted to see for my life. Yeah, I I think it was just like, could I see myself out of the Bay Area? Um, and and and then I was like, we took the chance and said Bay Area is expensive. And could we open a coffee shop in the Bay Area and what what that would look like? And um ultimately I was like, you know what, this isn't a bad thing. I I I want a sense of community and it's it's harder in a big, big city to do. So I I think we we ran literally like a month later, we were we were down here.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I believe that at some stage you have to make that giant leap into change, and it's scary, but if you don't do it ever, you're just full of regret. But it does take money and courage to take that first step. When you arrived in Summerland, were there any surprises that affected you in a positive or negative way once you arrived?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, I think the hard part was is that when I arrived, it was like we had to do full construction in the in the coffee shop. So it was very much like go time. And um, there really wasn't any time for anything personal or uh like even money was like obviously super tight. Um, the project ended up taking twice as long to do, three times the amount of money I thought I budgeted for. Um so for a full year it was like really, really hard. Yeah, I mean, I had to get an I had to get a job while I was still trying to like build. I was doing all of the construction that I could myself. Um, I was digging trenches, I was pulling drywall, I was putting in um, you know, insulation. Uh and I have no background in renovating or anything. So I had to learn and and and save as much money as possible doing as much as I could myself. Uh so uh yeah, that that first landing here was pretty tough. Um, it wasn't until like a few years into owning the business that I was finally able to like be like, hey, maybe I could make a friend, maybe I could, you know, read again.

SPEAKER_02:

Um and in looking back, what was the hardest unlearning process when moving from tech to small business ownership? And if you could go back to day one, what mindset would you give yourself?

SPEAKER_01:

I think the hardest thing I had to learn was you're not gonna please everyone. And coming from when you're in tech and you're working for a corporation, you're always saying yes and you're you're a people pleaser. And you know, I think a lot of like culture also creates this like people pleasing, like um people don't like to hear the word no. Um, and so opening your own business, especially at the beginning, you want to say yes to everything and you want to be everything to everybody, and slowly, you know, you start to burn out. Um, and you also lose a like an identity of what you started out to do. And so when I started saying, hey, it's okay if my business isn't for everybody, that in turn made it better for the people that it was for. And so that's like a mindset that I really had to like, I really struggled with was like creating boundaries and being okay saying no.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I agree. Boundaries are super important. Okay, so let's go back. You've set up Red Kettle Coffee in Summerland. What was the impetus behind opening Smitten Books in Ventura? Because that's a little bit of a drive for you. The best drive.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it is. It is it is absolutely stunning. I would recommend anybody, um, if you want the most stunning drive, um, drive, drive the coast. Like if you're in LA, just keep driving north. And um yeah, it's it's I put my um, I always say my book on tape, which really like ages me. But um, I put my book on and I got like a it's about a 30-minute drive, and I just have the best me time and um I love it. But uh yeah, having the coffee shop, um, I do a lot of retail in the coffee shop as well. Um, and that's really what started like bringing more joy to me was um we have a lot of um local artists in the store. Um, and so I'm I'm selling local artists things, and then we have a pop-up for artists uh for two months at a time where they get their own space to showcase their work. And um I just was like, I really wish I could do a store, but there's so much competition with online purchasing that I never felt confident enough of like what could I sell that was not going to be offered online. And then the part about the coffee shop that I was missing was the community aspect. And you think with the coffee shop, you're like, this is serving a community, right? And it is, but where I'm at, it's a lot of vacationers and it's a lot of tourists just coming through town. So I try to throw like markets and live music and all these events, and they would be pretty quiet. So I kind of lost energy on that. And so I was like, okay, if I'm gonna do a retail business, it has to include what I'm missing from the coffee shop, and that was like community and something that I knew I could bring to an area that they couldn't get online necessarily. Um and I know we could buy books online, but they can't buy the experience. Um, and so I did some traveling and I realized everywhere I went, I was looking up where the independent bookstore stores were, and that started getting the ball rolling. And then um I tried to start a book club with some of my friends, and none of them took it seriously. And I was the only one that was like, you guys, we're here for book club. And so then I started thinking about like, well, how do I start a book club with people that aren't my friends? And are there are other people that want to join a book club, but they don't have friends to do it with. And so then just I kind of have everything like accumulated to like an aha moment of this idea. Um, and I can finally fully visualize what this would look like. And it checked so many boxes as far as like business, but but personally too, like I was missing all of these things for myself. So luckily I started looking for real estate, and um the space I'm in now came available like literally within the week I started looking. Um, and uh I was already scheduled to to go to Europe like a month later, and so I was like I probably crazy, but I I said signed on the dotted line and and left and went to Europe and then I came back and I was like full-fledged, let's get this store open.

SPEAKER_02:

And why did you decide to open a romance bookshop?

SPEAKER_01:

So originally when I was thinking about a bookstore, I was thinking like a like a general, like all books store. Um and that really overwhelmed me because I felt pretty um like I wanted to feel very confident in what I was selling, and I I don't read all of the genres. And so I started thinking about like, well, what genres do I love the most? And it's always romance. You give me any rom-com and I'm watching it. It doesn't like um, like I was watching like the BBC, uh, you know, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, like before I even know what anything was about. It was, yeah, it was just like this is this is what I personally want to sell. And I love like being able to also sell like uh like self-care books as well, because I feel like that's a like a genre that doesn't feel like there's a lot of like um help within a store for if you go into like Barnes Nobles and you have a specific thing you want to learn more about, it's pretty hard to get help. Um, so we don't have like a huge section, but but I I've tried to make it so there are books that I can stand behind. Um, and then our whole store is female and non-binary authors and makers. So um you're not gonna buy like a self-care book that was written by a man's perspective. And so that's kind of what the store like celebrates is like femininity and having those stories and in self-care books be catered to this group.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

A couple of episodes back, I had Rachel Cantor from Lovestruck Books in Harvard Square on the show. And I asked what was going through her mind when she thought about opening a romance bookstore in the middle of Harvard Square. And she said, you know, romance makes money. She was explaining how she has a lot of different people coming into the bookshop and that they do sell a few other books that aren't romance-based and a little bit of nonfiction, but she said the draw is romance and she lost her customers.

SPEAKER_01:

I would say like the best, the best community of people too.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, romance readers know they're gonna get that happy ending right. Yeah. May what do you hope customers understand about what their purchase supports even beyond books when they buy from Smitten Books and Independent Bookshop?

SPEAKER_01:

First and foremost, your money is staying in your community, which is, you know, um, I think the the percentage of of buying from like say Amazon is pretty, pretty small. Um and then the money that you're spending in the store helps facilitate um different events. And like it goes beyond for us at least, um, not just doing like um author events, but um being able to provide um six different free book clubs in six different genres. Um and each one has its own host that um we give um like significant discounts to the hosts for doing this out of their own time. Um we have four other free clubs, um writing, tarot, journaling, um, and what is my other fourth book?

SPEAKER_00:

Because so many we'll remember it later.

SPEAKER_01:

I know, I'll be like, no. Um so being able to provide all these free things for our community to come and do um is so important, um, not only just um to like gain more knowledge, um, but to connect people in the community as well. Um as an adult, it's really, really hard to meet other adults if like let's say um you don't want to go to a bar or uh if you don't have necessarily children that have other, you know, that they have parents that you could possibly meet. Um so it's pretty limited to to getting outside of maybe your work bubble of people you know.

SPEAKER_02:

And as I say probably every week on the show, independent bookshops and bookselling are about building community. And I think readers and people who are attracted to books and independent bookshops, they understand that concept. It's important to them. You've mentioned that Smitten is also a gift shop. How do you decide what doesn't belong at Smitten?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think I ever think of like doesn't belong. And honestly, I have a hard time saying no to things that I actually do want. Um, because there's so many good bookish items out there. Um there's so many great, you know, female non-binary, um owned small businesses that make uh fantastic things, like um as far as like, you know, bookmarks and stickers and jewelry. Uh and so it's actually more tough for me to say no than it is to like say, you know, to think the opposite. Um, I mean, I wish I could have all the things.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I have to say, you lucked out with that space you're in. I mean, it's right on Main Street next to some great businesses, the refill store. It's a fabulous location.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, and I think that's why I I, you know, wanted to be in downtown Ventura because um, I don't know the percentage, but very high. Um, probably like 90% are small businesses in on the block on Main Street. Um, and that was really important for me because um I want to be part of a community. Like one of my neighbors actually came in today and was talking about like trying to get like more free parking spots and um how do we do that? And like, let's start a petition. Um, so that to me is is really, really important. Um, not only the community I'm creating inside the store, but the community outside the store as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it really is a fabulous little cluster of independent businesses right there on Main Street. Let's talk about diversity in Ventura. How do you listen to the community when deciding what voices belong on your shelves? And can you share an example of a book or product that felt especially important to carry?

SPEAKER_01:

This was a hard question for me. When I first opened, it was very much like the distribute the book distributors are telling me what is is the top-selling things. And I had to just kind of like go with that because like I'm new, I don't, I don't know what people in my community are gonna want, right? Um, so like so many of our shelves were contemporary romance, uh, to the point where I was like, did we order anything else? Um and um, and now two years later, um, like we have a huge fantasy section. Um, we have a general fiction section. Um, and um, I think the most surprising was um we have a uh like a mystery suspense horror section. And I think when I first opened, I had maybe five books that kind of still had romance in them. But I listened to my community and my community wanted this genre. And um we we even started a dark, you know, book club that caters to female writers that write in horror, mystery, and suspense. And um, it'd be very easy for you know, for myself to be like, well, that doesn't, that doesn't fit what I, you know, set out to do. But I'm like, this is still like this is still a community of readers, and um, I want to support whatever they want to read, like in that and still stick with my my female and non-binary authors, right? So um, I don't know if that's like the most important product I've ever, you know, brought in, but I think it was a lesson to to keep your ear out, you know, ear open and listen to your customers.

SPEAKER_02:

And how long has it taken you to build up that core group of local customers who come into the store regularly?

SPEAKER_01:

Honestly, I think having a coffee shop and having regulars and putting those two like things together, I don't think I thought I was going to have regulars at the bookstore. I I honestly didn't didn't think that at all. So when it started happening, I was actually like very surprised. And now I'm like got like, you know, customers that have become friends. Um, I'm going to like book events with my customers. Um, I'm sharing hotels with them to go to conventions. So uh yeah, that actually is a very surprising thing for me to like be like, oh my gosh, I have I have regulars and I love it. And I also every day I do get at least two people that come in and ask, like, when did this open? And sometimes it gets a little like eye twitchy, like I'm gonna answer this for the thousandth time. But in the same thought, it's like there's still so many people that you know can find us. And that's like very inspiring to keep going because there's just more and more people that don't know we're here.

SPEAKER_02:

Have you had to do much marketing, or would you say it's a lot of word by mouth recognition?

SPEAKER_01:

The marketing is ramping up more and more. I'm putting more and more effort into like the social media because if they, you know, if they don't know an event's happening, then we we don't get any people. So um I think to begin with, my budget just really didn't cover a whole lot of marketing. Um, but now it's I'm like, okay, we really gotta like turn it up a notch, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Well, let's look at your reading stack. What would you say it says about where you are in your life right now?

SPEAKER_01:

I think unfortunately, because of what's happening in the world, I am personally. reading a lot of like fleek stuff which I know a lot of people are like wait you you know they're probably doing the opposite of reading more like happy happy stuff um I like to feel the feels so um I I really like when something like really really like makes me uh either feel uncomfortable or sad or um but then of course it's gotta have a happy ending so yeah go on that journey.

SPEAKER_02:

It's it's interesting that you say that I found that during the pandemic I reread a lot of my favorite books because I knew that they would comfort me. And that's also when I started reading a little bit of romance because it just made me feel happy. But I do find I'm reading more nonfiction because I'm curious about what's going on in the world and a lot of history too because I I want to understand how we got here and where we are headed. I think it all boils down to what we said earlier about being involved in a community and building a community that to me is how we grow stronger as a country. Plus I think the arts have a voice for all the people out there protesting, writing, painting, keep doing it because I believe the arts can help create change. And as we said earlier coffee shops and independent bookshops are great ways to build community.

SPEAKER_01:

I've had customers like at a couple of the workshops lately be like it's it's hard to like be doing these things for ourselves when there's so much going on out in the world and um I think you can still show up for yourself because taking care of your own your own mental health is important because it doesn't just stay within you. It it goes out towards you know everybody that's close to you. And so yeah and the community space is a great way to be able to talk things through with people and and feel heard and seen. And even for us like um when there was the economic blackout we stayed open and um you know percentage of our sales went to um supporting a nonprofit that helps with um immigration lawyers. That's great. So um we do what we can.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah I think that's good because you know I noticed a lot of bookshops on the East Coast and Midwest did stay open. Honestly a lot of it was because people needed somewhere to keep warm. It's been freezing over there. Perhaps their hours were shorter but they realized there was a need for people to congregate in the bookshops. What do you hope Smitten represents five or ten years from now for you and Ventura?

SPEAKER_01:

I hope it's I mean it's at this time uh an inclusive safe space for all um and I hope that that continues. I hope that we continue to host like authors and you know people that want to do workshops that um help the community I would I would love for people to to know that this is this is here and um and and they're looking you know at our calendar specifically because they want to they want to join something in their community that they're looking for it and we're not trying to like you know they can walk inside and feel comfortable.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay so what do you have planned today for this special day Valentine's Day at Smitten?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my gosh so many things because it's Valentine's but it's also our two year anniversary so I like literally packed I packed the whole thing. So we're doing like a we're doing a sale first and foremost 20% off uh all books and then um online we also will have a code um that we'll be posting here soon um and then we're doing um like free arts free books we're doing signed book raffles we have um a bunch of workshops that day we have a glamour workshop we have a knot uh rope workshop um for bedroom uh rope and then we have a ceramic workshop where we're making like heart or star pendants um and yeah so we have a lot of community events and we're gonna have free live music uh and then I'd also would love to say too um the next day on the 15th we're having our first used book sale out front of the store all of the sales uh will go to Legacy of Love which is a local dog rescue so we're also doing that on Sunday which I'm really excited about because the community has really come come out for us. We asked for any you know uh lightly loved novels to give to the fundraising efforts and um we've gotten so many good donations.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's tomorrow? Yeah so we're gonna keep the love going.

SPEAKER_02:

I love what you're doing May and it's been great chatting with you. I'm so glad to have your little smitten bookshop just down the road from me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

I appreciate you talking with me.

SPEAKER_02:

You've been listening to my conversation with May Tingstrom owner and founder of Smitten Bookstore in Ventura California. To help the show reach more people please share episodes with friends and family and on social media and remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to this podcast. To find out more about the Bookshop Podcast go to thenarrativeexchange.com and make sure to subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to the show. You can also follow me at Mandy Jacksonbeverly on Instagram and Facebook and on YouTube at the bookshop podcast. If you have a favorite indie bookshop that you'd like to suggest we have on the podcast I'd love to hear from you via the contact form at thebookshoppodcast.com The Bookshop Podcast is written and produced by me Mandy Jackson Beverly theme music provided by Brian Beverly my assistant is Kayleigh Dishinger and graphic designer Alex Mooney. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next time