LAKE WORTH BOOKSTORE CAFE OPENS ON FRIDAY
Starting Friday, book lovers can enjoy coffee, beer, wine and pastries.
LAKE WORTH — Book Cellar, Lake Worth’s new bookstore on Lake Avenue, plans to open a cafe Friday selling wine, beer and pastries.
“We’re paying rent on the whole space, so we needed the income for the entire space,” said Tamara Ayraud, co-owner of the store at 801 Lake Avenue, a 2,300-squarefoot historic space.
Book Cellar opened in October. At the time, Ayraud said she planned to open a cafe inside the back of the store early next year, but that timetable accelerated.
Ayraud said she borrowed $35,000 and built the cafe herself with a little help from her boyfriend, an amateur plumber.
The cafe took about a month to build.
“It was a lot of hard work, long nights without any sleep, but it was well worth it when I see the end result,” Ayraud said.
The cafe officially opens Friday at 8 p.m. There will be a 6 p.m. book signing for “The Cottages of Lake Worth,” a book that celebrates the city’s historic cottages.
The cafe has coffee that sells for $2 to $5, food (prices $5 to $12) and wine by the glass (from $8 to $12). Hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and until midnight Saturdays and Sundays.
Ayraud said the cafe seats 30 people and is about 1,000 square feet.
“There’s plenty of space for people to stand,” she said.
Ayraud runs the business with her sister and her brother-in-law, who live in Colorado and own a book and coffee shop there.
The store has about 30 sections, including Beach Reads, Staff Favorites, Historical Fiction, Classics and Nonfiction. The front section features new books and new authors, Ayraud said.
Since opening, Ayraud said, Book Cellar has done well.
“The whole community has been so supportive and very excited,” Ayraud said. “But they keep asking, ‘When is the cafe opening? When is the cafe opening?’”
Book Cellar has about 30 sections, including Beach Reads, Staff Favorites, Historical Fiction, Nonfiction and Classics. New books and writers are in a section up front.