A bookstore devoted entirely to horror and science fiction has opened inside a shared storefront on King Street in Old Town Alexandria, and it's already been difficult to keep books on its shelves. Long Dark House opened earlier in September, filling its shelves with horror subsections like horromance, kids' horror and palate cleansers alongside a dedicated section for local horror authors.
The shop sits at 1510 King Street, sharing its space with Madame Coco's Emporium, a local chocolate and gift shop, according to ALXnow. The shared space gives shoppers an unusual pairing of dark, atmospheric fiction and sweets under one roof. Harris told WTOP News that she was shocked by how warmly the community has received the shop so far.
A Fragrance Studio Founder Turns to Bookselling
Before opening her first brick-and-mortar bookstore, Harris built Hemlock & Hearth, a Northern Virginia small-batch fragrance studio, and her literary-inspired candles are sold inside Long Dark House, per the Washingtonian. That earlier venture gave her an existing customer community as she moved into bookselling. Harris has been a fan of horror since childhood, according to WTOP.
Harris designed Long Dark House as a gathering spot as well as a retail shop, WTOP reports. Its programming includes children's story times, horror and sci-fi book clubs, role-playing games, crafting parties and writers' workshops. The store has also announced specialized reading groups including a Coastal Horror Book Club, a Black Horror Book Club, a Final Girl Book Club and a Teen Horror Society, according to Alexandria Brief.
Local Author's Demon-Haunted Dynasty Gets the Spotlight
Among the titles Long Dark House is highlighting is Alma Katsu's latest novel, “Fiend,” which centers on an affluent modern dynasty controlled by a 1,000-year-old demon, per WTOP. The book, published by G.P. Putnam's Sons in September 2025, comes from a former senior U.S. intelligence analyst who lives outside Washington, D.C. and writes historical horror fiction, according to Penguin Random House. The store also stocks work from authors who are less familiar to many readers, aiming to give shoppers a place to discover new voices and subgenres, per WTOP.
Long Dark House plans to curate rotating displays built around subgenres such as southern gothic, botanical horror and climate fiction. The name itself nods to liminality, the threshold between past and future.
Opening Week Sold Out Faster Than Expected
The bookstore's opening plans included September 1, followed by a launch event on September 5 featuring author Lisa Jones Gentry signing copies of “A Dead Man Speaks,” per ALXnow. WTOP notes that strong demand has continued to make it difficult for the shop to keep books on its shelves.
Long Dark House will hold a second grand opening celebration, dubbed Part II, this Saturday. The shop sells both books and gifts, and Harris has said she wants it to remain a place where readers stumble onto new authors and unfamiliar subgenres rather than just restocking familiar bestsellers.
Part of a Bigger Wave in Old Town and Beyond
Long Dark House joins a small but increasingly specialized bookstore scene in Old Town Alexandria, which includes the romance-focused shop Friends to Lovers on Cameron Street, according to Axios Washington D.C.. The store's focus on horror and science fiction gives readers another genre-specific option alongside more general booksellers elsewhere in the city.
The broader publishing market has also seen continued attention to horror and speculative fiction. Publishing-industry coverage, including Jane Friedman, has tracked the expansion of horror publishing and reader interest in the genre.
The Local and National Book Market
The available documentation does not establish a complete year-by-year count of Alexandria's independent bookstores or a full opening-date history since 2020. It does show that Del Ray is home to The Company of Books, a not-for-profit general used bookstore with three floors of fiction and nonfiction, according to The Company of Books. National sales data offer a more specific snapshot of genre demand. Publishers Weekly, citing Circana BookScan, reported that horror sales rose 7% through the first nine months of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024. The same publication reported that science-fiction sales increased 22.1% in 2025 to just over six million units, a broader category measure distinct from horror.
