Downtown Redwood City has a new addition. Fireside Books & More is a cute, cozy bookstore with a strong focus on community. It is located at 2421 Broadway, right next to the Caltrain station, and is a self-described indie bookstore. The shop opened February 1, 2025 by owners Andrew Johnson and Taylor Kubota, a couple whose love of Redwood City inspired them to open a bookstore. 

The bookstore is warm and charming. Plush armchairs, plants spilling down the bookshelves, and a cat named Bonnie adds to the cozy charm of the store. 

Junior Reese Skye said, “[Fireside is] a really nice place to just stop and rest for a bit.” 

Between the bookshelves, a number of tables and chairs provide places to sit down with your book, do your homework, enjoy a drink, or chat with friends. The owners of the bookstore want to provide a space for everyone, regardless of whether you’re buying anything.

Book Clubs: One thing Fireside provides for the local community is a variety of book clubs. Their teen-focused book club, Books and Boba, is described on their website as “a casual hangout for teens to talk about the books they like.” Book clubs at Fireside never require anyone to purchase a book. They’re more focused on providing a space for book clubs to meet. 

Community: Fireside Books & More is labeled as a bookstore, but it’s more than that. 

“The bookstore is kind of a cover for being a community space. We’re not looking to draw people from all around the Bay Area. There’s so many amazing bookstores all over the place, around here. There’s a ton up in the city, and there’s Kepler’s in Menlo Park, which is legendary, and Feldman’s, which is also legendary. And so we’re really focused on our community, close at hand,” Kubota said.

When talking with Kubota, she emphasizes how much she and Johnson love the vibrant community of Redwood City, and how the bookstore reflects that. 

“The bookstore is representative of everything we felt about Redwood City since we’ve moved here, both that vibrancy and also that really amazing sense of community,” Kubota said.

On top of providing a community space for young people, Fireside Books & More also supports local small businesses and artists. Around the store, you can find bracelets made by Annette Isabel, a Redwood City photographer, crochet bags and decorations by Ellen Washington, a local student, mugs and bowls by GTS ceramics, a husband and wife from San Jose, and more. 

“We really did get to know some of the other small business owners quite well, so that was part of the inspiration for opening [the bookstore],” Kubota said.