Coreander's Children's Bookshoppe, a new bookstore located in the Kercheval business district of Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., is expected to open for business this June, Grosse Pointe News reported.
Co-owners Shery Cotton, Mike Cotton and Sean Cotton have always dreamed of opening a bookstore. "All of us are voracious readers and always wanted to own a bookstore, my mom for years and years," Sean Cotton said. "I grew up with the bookstore being one of my favorite places to go as a kid, finding new adventures." Recalling travels to bookstores throughout Manhattan during his college years, he noted that the idea of bookstores becoming less mainstream with the surge of online shopping is upsetting: "The loss of bookstores is devastating. They are places to go and learn and love the written word."
Shery Cotton added: "If I visit a city, an independent bookstore is always my first stop. From Inverness, Scotland to Sardinia, Italy, I always am home when I enter the local bookstore."
Coreander's Children's Bookshoppe will focus primarily on titles ranging from newborn to YA, along with a small section for parents consisting of a few periodicals and bestsellers. Grosse Pointe News noted that the owners "hope to use the shop for more than just selling books. In a backroom space of the bookstore, they plan to host puppet shows, interactive learning experiences and Saturday movie nights, where parents can drop off their children for pizza and a movie while they go out to dinner." Plans also call for hosting author book readings, as well as providing an after-school learning program, potentially with reading tutors for the kids.
In addition, Coreander's Children's Bookshoppe will have a café, featuring indoor space along with an outdoor garden space next door, which will have tree-shaded tables and chairs. Two apartments are being built above the bookstore with the goal of renting them out through an "artist in residence" and a "writer in residence" program each year.