Peyton Barfield has spent the past two months painting floors, hauling shelves and second-guessing inventory decisions inside a narrow storefront at 525 Bryan St. in Denton, all in pursuit of turning her online bookshop into a place customers can actually walk into. The Bohemian Bookshop, which Barfield started as an online venture, is now set to open a brick-and-mortar location later this year, though no firm opening date has been confirmed.
Barfield, a Denton resident and University of North Texas alumna who previously worked in insurance before launching the shop, found the Bryan Street space while searching for a storefront that would put her inventory in front of the right crowd, according to North Texas Daily. She said she prefers the neighborhood location because the customers already visiting nearby shops are exactly the kind of shoppers she wants browsing her shelves. The Bohemian Bookshop began as a pop-up in 2025 after starting online in 2021, and it started showing up at community events last year, Community Impact reported.
Small Presses Get the Spotlight
The shop's focus has always been on small printers and independent authors rather than bestseller tables. Per the same outlet, Barfield described building a curated selection that highlights works from small publishers, as well as cult classics, backlist titles and voices from historically marginalized communities. She has said the store plans to spotlight books that larger retailers do not usually promote, and told the publication she tracked down many of those small publishers and writers simply by searching online.
Once the doors open, Barfield plans to host readings, art classes, book clubs, writing groups and more, the outlet reported. She said pop-ups will likely continue on special occasions even after the permanent location is running, keeping a foot in the format that built her following in the first place.
Inside the Build-Out on Bryan Street
Barfield has completed painting and flooring inside the space and is now working through inventory and store layout, according to North Texas Daily. The plan calls for a front shelf and seating area, with a possible employee break lounge tucked further inside. She told the outlet the past two months were the most stressful of her life, even as she said she's excited to pursue what she described as her life's purpose through the bookstore. A soft opening or pop-up event is expected later this month, though Barfield has not confirmed a firm date for the full storefront launch.
Barfield credited her longtime friend and fellow Denton resident Amy Romo with helping prepare the storefront, pitching in during the renovation stretch. The shop will land among a cluster of small businesses on Bryan Street, becoming neighbors with Bewitched Denton, The Altar and Sundance Thrift.
The 'Bryan Street Baddies'
Business owners in the shopping center have taken to calling themselves the Bryan Street Baddies, and Sundance Thrift owner Damaris Combs described the cluster as women-owned businesses building something together rather than competing. Combs said she thinks Barfield's bookstore could become a new favorite in the center, and added, half in jest, that what the shopping center really needs now is a coffee cart.
Part of a Broader Indie Bookstore Wave
Denton's bookselling scene has been leaning into collaboration lately. The second annual North Texas Indie Bookstore Crawl brought together more than 30 local independent bookstores, including The Plot Twist in Denton, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle. Talking Animals Books co-owner Katie Lemieux told the paper the crawl gives book lovers a chance to explore the unique character and communities of each store, and said she meets with other local bookstores regularly to talk about how they can keep collaborating. The crawl's passport rules let visitors collect a stamp at each stop with no purchase necessary.
Lemieux has also argued that independent shops offer something chains can't replicate. There are things I can do here beyond just buying a book, she told the Record-Chronicle. That philosophy lines up with national numbers: about 422 new independent bookshops opened across the country in 2025, a 31% jump from the year before, according to the Guardian, citing the American Booksellers Association. For Barfield, that broader momentum is now playing out one storefront at a time on Bryan Street.
