Matthew and Dani Morrow are a couple that shares a love of craft beer, wine and books. They recently decided to take their loves and turn them into a business. The Morrows are the owners of the soon-to-be-open bookstore and pub called The Tipsy Bookworm in Plant City.
“My wife and I share a deep love for craft beer, wine and books, but really our big draw has always been community,” Matt said. “Our hope is to really tie into Plant City and play our part in helping an incredible town continue to grow and thrive. The reason we fell in love with the craft beer scene in the first place was not just the delicious product, but also really seeing their function as a community center. They’ve become places where everyone is welcome; where no matter your walk of life, you can come in and start a conversation with a stranger.”
The idea for The Tipsy Bookworm grew really organically between the couple.
“It’s hard to pinpoint an exact date of when we decided to do this, but I will say it was heavily inspired by some of our favorite places to go,” Matt said. “The common link we found between those spots was how well they did at tying into a local community, and that was something we wanted to emulate. That evolved into us thinking about other things people really bond over and discuss other than beer; enter books.”
Matt’s love of books was a gift from his late grandmother, Meme.
“Every Christmas or birthday, my present was without fail a book or two,” Matt said. “I would sneak books into my room just to stay up late and read them. To say I was a nerd would be an understatement. My wife to this day devours books like they’re candy and discussing what she’s reading has been a consistent part of our day. As we sat with those thoughts, we couldn’t shake the concept of combining all these things. Combining two community-centered items like drinks and books into one space seemed like a perfect fit to us and something I know would make my Meme proud.”
The couple had been aware of Plant City’s efforts to grow their downtown for quite some time but had never quite connected the dots with their own dreams and ideas.
“With the support of Plant City Main Street’s grant program, and one look at just how much potential this beautiful city has, our fate was sealed,” Matt said. “Keeping things local is everything to us. Quite simply, we don’t survive without local support, nor would we want to. We want to be involved in local charities and fundraisers; we want to be everyone’s favorite local bookstore as well as their local bar.”
The Tipsy Bookworm will be opening sometime in March. Keep an eye on its website, https://memorrowiv.wixsite.com/thetipsybookworm, and Facebook page, www.facebook.com/TipsyReader. The Tipsy Bookworm is located at 115 S. Evers St. in Plant City.
