nsight
LESLIE HAWKINS
photos courtesy Spellbound Children’s Bookstore
Eyes Wide Open W
Spellbound Children’s Bookstore wants to share the magic.
ho hasn’t observed a youngster slowly opening a new book, mouth popping open and eyes growing wide, and thought to oneself, “The child is spellbound…” That’s the very reason Spellbound Children’s Bookstore has been in operation for more than a decade—to spark a sense of wonder, to cultivate a passion for reading. As the store’s website announces, “Our mission is to help raise lifelong readers who are curious, imaginative, and independent thinkers by sharing the magic found when you open a book.” Celebrating its 12-year anniversary this month, the specialty bookstore currently located on merrimon avenue, was started in Asheville by Leslie Hawkins. She had graduated with a degree in psychology from UNC Asheville, but in her words, “Hands down, I had the most fun and felt the most engaged when working with kids—as a tutor, in a daycare setting, and in various volunteer roles. I'd also been what I call second banana in a couple of very small
businesses, and I enjoyed the challenge of wearing many hats and feeling that I'd helped accomplish something. I tried to picture my ideal working environment and, being a lifelong bookworm, I came up with a bookshop that was dedicated to children.” Now, one might presume children’s bookstores to be as commonplace as toy stores. Starting in the early ‘90s,
“In a small independent business like this, especially in a sector that's up against a mammoth, e-tailing giant, every year we're in business and thriving feels like a milestone.”
12
| November 2016
however, with the rapid ascent of chain stores and, soon thereafter, Amazon.com, independent bookstores were rapidly becoming endangered species. To a degree,