Melissa Bourdon-King plans to open a children's bookstore called Once Upon a Bookstore in Kelowna, B.C., in July. The lease is signed and construction is underway.
Bourdon-King has launched an IndieGoGo campaign, seeking to raise C$32,000 (about US$24,160) to help cover part of her total investment of about C$140,000 (US$105,700). Half of the total investment will going toward inventory and the remainder to "construction costs, renovating, purchasing furniture and fixtures, legal fees, city and building permits, hardware, software, insurance costs, and prepaid expenses like having a telephone and internet service."
Bourdon-King has more than a dozen years of bookselling experience. She worked for 13 years at Mabel's Fables Bookstore in Toronto before moving to British Columbia for a new job, and last year she attended a Paz & Associates "booksellers boot camp."
Once Upon a Bookstore aims, it said on its IndieGoGo page, to be "an event space for the community. It will connect local, Canadian and international authors and illustrators with Okanagan readers. It will unite new moms and dads with classes, support systems and safe spaces. It will welcome families of all shapes, sizes, varieties and cultures to feel safe and find their stories on our shelves. It will encourage creativity in all forms through workshops, classes, and discussion groups. It will listen to new ideas and be a base point to launch those new ideas, for young and old. It will give back to the local community through supporting literacy efforts, school groups, and community-minded organizations. In short, Once Upon a Bookstore will grow and evolve based on what its community--you--needs it to be."