Support The Childrens Book Shop!

The Children’s Book Shop has been a Brookline Village institution since we opened in 1977. We’ve weathered plenty of ups and downs in those more than 42 years—apart from the economic downturns and increased competition from online retailers, in the last few years alone, we’ve dealt with longtime store owner Terri Schmitz breaking her leg in 2018, the closing of our main wholesaler last year, and now a global pandemic. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to serve as your local independent children’s bookstore and to watch your families grow through the years. We’ve been so happy to give back to our community by working with local schools, teachers, and librarians, donating to local causes, collecting book donations for Reach Out and Read, and sponsoring our annual poetry contest for children in grades K through 8 every year for 24 years and counting! Now, as difficult as it is for us to do, we must turn to our community and ask for your help.

We’ve been closed to the public since March 17, and will continue to be closed through at least May 18. We’ve adapted to selling gift certificates online and setting up a Bookshop page (and if you’ve ever seen our ancient computers in the shop, you know what a big deal these online ventures are for us!), and we are sincerely grateful to all of our customers who have supported us through these avenues so far, but our main source of revenue has been dramatically reduced. We are diligently pursuing the loans and grants made available by the federal government and private organizations, many of which are being overwhelmed by the nationwide need for assistance. The bills are piling up and we fear we won’t be able to maintain this for long. 

Funds given to this campaign will help keep the book shop afloat in Brookline Village, where there are already so many empty storefronts and where we have seen so much business turnover over the years. We don’t want to be a part of that turnover! We DO want to ensure that we will be financially able to reopen as soon as it is safe to do so. Any and all donations we receive will go directly to covering the necessary operational costs of the business. This includes mortgage payments, payroll, utilities, publisher expenses and invoices, and website fees. Your donation ensures that when we do reopen, it will be with the same booksellers you’ve come to know and love. While the future of this global crisis remains uncertain, this campaign will help support The Children’s Book Shop both in the short term and in the months to come.

If you can give any amount, we are truly grateful. If you’re unable to do so, there are several other ways you can support us and other indie bookstores who are facing similar difficulties. You can share this campaign on social media; sign up for our newsletter; follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; purchase a gift card to use when we reopen; order books from our Bookshop page; or simply send us a kind message—every bit of encouragement helps us keep going. 

If you’ve ever walked into our store and felt immediately at home, then you know why this is important. If you’ve ever asked one of our wonderful booksellers for a good recommendation, brought your kids or grandkids to our store and helped them excitedly choose a new book, trusted us to choose the perfect new baby or graduation gift,  or sought out Terri's encyclopedic knowledge of children's books and received her expert advice, then you know why The Children’s Book Shop matters. If the book shop has impacted your life for the better, in a big way or small, please consider supporting us now so we can continue supporting you in the future. Thank you. 

--The Children’s Book Shop team

#SmallBusinessRelief

Owner Terri Schmitz introducing beloved author Jeanne Birdsall to a packed and enthusiastic crowd at the Brookline Public Library in May 2018

Our 2017 window display of poetry contest winners and honors

The shop interior on a wintry evening