Children’s Bookshop And Storytelling Lab To Open Its Pages In Park Slope

It’s not everyday that people are able to turn their fantasies into reality, but the novelist Maggie Pouncey —  who penned “Perfect Reader” — is one of the lucky ones.

She always dreamed of having her own bookstore. So when her husband, Matt Miller, opted to leave his job as a Chief Technology Officer at an education technology company, they jumped at the opportunity.

Their creation of Stories, a combination bookshop and storytelling lab, will be geared towards children and young adults in the hopes of steering them away from screens and opening up their untapped writing potential.

“It’s a world of screens that our children are growing up in, and [I think] that storytelling is this old fashioned handmade art, a counter balance to what is the pervasive [technological]  culture,” Pouncey said.

As one of the few children-specific bookstore in Brooklyn, Stories will be filling a gap in what Pouncey and Miller believe is a lack of enrichment programs offered to children in the area.

“There’s no shortage of science, technology or mathematic programs, which are all great for kids, as well as a lot of great visual arts programs,” Miller said. “But we did see this noticeable gap in writing and storytelling arts, so that helped us hone the idea of having a storytelling lab being a necessary fixture in the neighborhood.”

At Stories, there will be workshops for children up to 13-years-old including bookmaking, illustrations and creative writing. Pouncey said she doesn’t want it to be an environment that’s too much like school since they already spend so much time there.

“We’re trying to think of way to make writing playful and fun. We don’t want to think of it as school, but a playful fun space,” she said.

Although the shop will not be very big, they plan to carry a wide variety of books ranging from new authors, classics, and rare and out-of-date books so there is an “eclectic, but personal mix.”

As first-time small business owners, they’ve been fortunate enough not to have too many issues in getting a small business loan, but they said that the application was much more arduous than they thought it would be. In conjunction with their loan and savings, they will be launching a Kickstarter campaign to help pay for startup costs, construction, booksellers and other business related expenses.

“A successful day is when lots of families are discovering something new in our shop,” Miller said. “We want it to feel like a home for families who are stopping by,” Pouncey added.

The Business Rundown: Stories Bookshop and Storytelling Lab
Where: 458 Bergen Street, between 5th and Flatbush Avenues
Store Opening: Saturday, April 30, Independent Bookstore Day
Pricing: Workshops will not be free, but there will be free programs.
Contact: hello@storiesbk.com