Townsourced Small Business Spotlight
My plan is to make the Townsourced Small Business Spotlight a regular series on this blog. There are many reasons behind this, but what it really boils down to is this; we at Townsourced believe that small businesses are vital to communities and I love shopping at small businesses!
Our first ever #TownsourcedSpotlight is Red Balloon Bookshop on Grand Ave in St. Paul.
Our family has a tradition. The last day of school we go to a book store, and the kids get to choose a book. The book needs to be a fun book that gets them excited about reading. When thinking about bookshops to visit I knew I wanted to support a small business for reasons I talked about at length previously on this blog. I also wanted it to be a kid-focused book store so the kids would feel like it was an extra special outing.
So with all that in mind, I chose Red Balloon Bookshop because it is geared toward kids, it is a small business and because those giant, t-shirt wearing Teddy Bears are adorable!
Above you can see my youngest flipping through the first book in the Princess in Black series, which after buying the book, she has declared is “The best book ever!”
I love that Red Balloon carries books for my 8 & 9 year old boys that keep them interested in reading. This age range is notoriously difficult to keep boys interested in reading. The staff at Red Balloon Bookshop understands that and does a great job stocking the shelves with age appropriate and engaging novels for that challenging demographic.
I really appreciate the Staff Favorites that are marked throughout the store. And as a mom of easily distracted kids, I love that the focus of the store is books. There isn’t an abundance of toys distracting the kids from the books. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a nice selection of gifts and toys but Red Balloon feels first and foremost like a book store.
Red Balloon Bookshop is a small, sweet shop that you can’t loose your kids in but you will find your kids lost in a book.
As an added bonus, Red Balloon Bookshop offers a summer reading program where kids can collect stamps to earn pizza! You can read more about it on their website.
In the end, each of our kids found books that got them excited to keep reading over the summer months and that is something that both their teachers and their parents are very happy about!
The next Townsourced Spotlight will feature the tasty treat we ate following our time at Red Balloon Bookshop. Any guesses as to where we went?
