When kids step through the doorway of children’s bookstore Ella Minnow, they make a beeline for the back to say hello to Marshmallow, the resident bunny. Then, before getting to the stacks of picture books and pre-teen novels, they’ll greet Finn, a little white dog Shih Tzu belonging to Ella Minnow’s owner and long-time Beaches resident, Heather Kuipers, who quips, “People are irritated if the dog’s not here.” Generally though, local parents are very pleased to have such a well-stocked bookshop staffed with kid-lit experts, right in their ’hood.
Back in 2006 when Ella Minnow announced it would be opening, sales reps at children’s publishers were thrilled. One even helped stock the shelves in the frantic few days before Ella Minnow’s rainy grand opening in December. Heather had certainly taken on a lot and was grateful for the support. “If we could manage a December right from the get-go, we knew we’d probably be fine. I figured whatever chaos I unleashed I could muck out the following month.” Ella Minnow’s first month was storming, and in the giddy run up to Christmas, there was plenty of good energy around.
