diff --git a/src/spatialdata/_bridges/__init__.py b/src/spatialdata/_bridges/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/src/spatialdata/io/__init__.py b/src/spatialdata/io/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a23181cad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/spatialdata/io/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+"""Experimental bridge to the spatialdata_io package."""
+
+try:
+    from spatialdata_io import *  # noqa: F403
+except ImportError as e:
+    raise ImportError(
+        "To access spatialdata.io, `spatialdata_io` must be installed, e.g. via `pip install spatialdata-io`. "
+        f"Original exception: {e}"
+    ) from e