Thrillerdelphia, a horror bookstore, opens in Manayunk in time for Halloween
The Main Street shop is the neighborhood’s second niche bookseller, joining Cupid’s, which specializes in romantic reads.
A little bookstore of horrors is now open in Manayunk, just in time for Halloween weekend.
Thrillerdelphia, the Main Street shop that soft-opened Friday, offers a hand-picked selection of psychological thrillers, supernatural suspense, and slasher novels.
Calling itself Philly’s first horror bookstore, Thrillerdelphia is also Manayunk’s second niche bookseller, joining Cupid’s, which specializes in romantic reads. Both stores are the brainchildren of Anthony and Tina Long, Manayunk residents and lovers of the vastly different book genres.
The opening of their second niche store within two-tenths of a mile comes at a time when bookstores are seeing a national resurgence, a trend experts attribute to social media and a post-pandemic desire for community gathering places.
Tina Long said her husband made Thrillerdelphia come to life — with an atmosphere in complete contrast to Cupid’s light and airy vibe.
“He wanted it to feel like a cave,” said Tina Long, recounting how he painted the walls black four times to get the shade perfect. “You walk in and you’re like, ‘Is this place haunted?’”
For about a month, the couple has been working on the 700-square-foot space on the 4200 block of Main Street, next to Goat’s Beard near the neighborhood’s east end. The storefront was previously occupied by a teeth-whitening studio. When they got the opportunity to lease the space, Tina Long said, they couldn’t pass it up.
And yes, Long said, there is enough demand for two genre-specific bookstores in one Philly neighborhood.
“There is interest out there. I know Philly loves horror,” said Long, noting that many Cupid’s customers say they plan to check out Thrillerdelphia — or drop off their partner there on their regular visits to Cupid’s.
Like its romance-focused sibling, Thrillerdelphia will host several book clubs, including one for queer-horror readers, and it will sell stickers, Kindle charms, and other merchandise that would appeal to audiobook and e-book devotees.
“To be a bookstore in this day and age, you have to grow with your customer,” Long said. “There are so many people who consume media in different ways.”
But regardless of how they read, “people still love going to bookstores,” Long said.
It’s not just a space for buying physical books, she added, but a place for building community: “It’s celebrating the books and the stories that authors have created.”
Thrillerdelphia is set to be open from noon to 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday, and 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. The shop will be closed Mondays, according to its website, for “plotting.”