Angie Martinez and her 14-year-old daughter Marissa make the trek to Children\u2019s Bookshop and Teaching Supplies from their home in Renton several times a year.<\/p>\n
Mom is looking for books to help supplement Marissa\u2019s studies and likes the selection available at the Kent mainstay.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s lots to pick from,\u201d Angie Martinez said. \u201cIt\u2019s very helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n
For her part, Marissa Martinez prefers the little things, like the selection of pencils and erasers and various other supplies and small toys that fill the dozens of bins surrounding the cash register.<\/p>\n
\u201c(I like) all the little novelty things you can\u2019t get anywhere else,\u201d the younger Martinez said with a smile.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s exactly that combination of school and teacher supplies and fun novelty items that owner Karl Beavers said has kept him in business for two decades, one of the longest-running shops in the downtown core.<\/p>\n
This past week, Children\u2019s Bookshop celebrated its 20th anniversary and it\u2019s come a long way since Beavers\u2019 father first opened the doors.<\/p>\n
Well, not really a long way \u2013 only across the street from its current location \u2013 but through the years the selection has changed to keep up with the times.<\/p>\n
According to Beavers, his father started the shop as primarily a bookstore, with a few teaching supplies as well. It was a nod to Beavers\u2019 mother, a retired Kent teacher.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe thought it was a no-brainer because they both loved books,\u201d Beavers said this past week.<\/p>\n
But with more and more stores moving in on their inventory, they had to branch out.<\/p>\n
\u201cBooks don\u2019t sell like they used to,\u201d Beavers said with a shrug. \u201cThey\u2019re everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shop still stocks books \u2013 most on handmade shelves, just like when it opened 20 years ago \u2013 as well as teaching supplies, but the selection of toys, games and novelties has increased through the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver time we had to change our assortment,\u201d Beavers said. \u201cWe had to change with the times to continue to prosper.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say there is a dearth of books. Not by any means.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we carry more children\u2019s books than the big box stores,\u201d Beavers said as he made his way through the stacks. \u201cIf you need a book on about any animal known to mankind, we have it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, children\u2019s books fill about a quarter of the space, half of floor space is devoted to teaching supplies and the rest splits between the study aids and toys, most of which have an educational bent, like rock tumblers and microscopes and DNA kits. They are also an exclusive retailer for \u201cSpeed Stacks\u201d cup-stacking products.<\/p>\n
The back half of the shop is devoted to teacher supplies, from decorations to math manipulators to flash cards to awards and certificates to stickers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a million stickers on hand,\u201d Beavers said.<\/p>\n
The store is also the only place in South King County tobuy construction paper in bulk, according to Beavers.<\/p>\n
But, as evidenced by the younger Martinez, the novelties and other items surrounding the cash register are quickly becoming favorites.<\/p>\n
According to Beavers, the store sells more than 250,000 pencils each year (the biggest seller is the one that looks like a $1 bill) and is the only place around to find pre-school pencils, which are fatter than the standard variety to make it easier for smaller fingers to handle them.<\/p>\n
It may be different from the bookstore that opened all those years ago, but the customers are still happy to come in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a nice selection here,\u201d said Sharon Feucht, who has been shopping at the store since soon after it opened in 1988. \u201cIt\u2019s a great store.\u201d<\/p>\n
While she calls it \u201cunbelievable\u201d that it\u2019s been 20 years since they opened, Feucht said she still comes down to do gift shopping, even though her own children have outgrown the shop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they\u2019ve added toys or things they seem to be quality products,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
With happy customers coming back, Beavers said there are no plans to change the winning formula in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep doing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd hopefully continue being a successful business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Children\u2019s Bookshop and Teaching Supplies is located at 225 W. Meeker in downtown Kent. For more information, call 253-852-0383.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Angie Martinez and her 14-year-old daughter Marissa make the trek to Children\u2019s Bookshop and Teaching Supplies from their home in Renton several times a year.
\nMom is looking for books to help supplement Marissa\u2019s studies and likes the selection available at the Kent mainstay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":23163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-23162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23162"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23162"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=23162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}