Little Bookshop is a Squamish-based online bookstore on wheels soon coming to a street near you! We lovingly curate literature for kids. Our focus is on current, diverse and beautifully unique kid lit! For now, browse and order online for super-speedy local pick up (or shipping).
Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?
Answer: Our value system is rooted in community. We have a few local partnerships, co-promoting each other’s businesses. Currently we offer a gift card with Alice + Brohm Ice Cream Co. and a play box Forest and Wild hand-crafted toys.
We love to showcase BC publishers like Orca Books, and strive to have the majority of our inventory created by Canadian Authors and Illustrators, this includes Indigenous talent and other Own Voices storytellers. We love the little publishers, because they offer treasures that might get lost in a huge bookstore. We stock only children’s books (for ages 0 to Young adult) – except for local authors! We have a Sea to Sky Creators section where we include any and all books from our talented community. Check out Amber Cowie, Cait Flanders and Wendy Monica Winter and Jessi McLennan to name a few!
We support local businesses whenever we can! We purchased our mobile cart from a North Vancouver based company Food Cart Manufacturing, and we’re having the shelves for our cart built in Squamish by a local carpenter Axelsson Contracting. We bank with Vancity, and Corridor Studio in Kimberly (formerly Squamish) does our illustrations and graphic design. Our packaging is sourced through Whistler’s Slope Side Supply, and our print needs (from cart branding to tote bags) are met by Wind Studio in Squamish – who help to bring so many great local brands to life.
Question: What social practices are you proud of?
Answer: Little Bookshop is passionate about diversity, acceptance, representation and self-love. Of course, we also have books about dragons and fairies, and can special order any title for young and old – but the focus of our curated selection is to amplify voices, showcase the diversity of our world, and share perspectives that may otherwise not be heard. We offer kids a chance to see themselves and others represented in ways they otherwise may not and hope to spark a lifelong joy of reading. We feel lucky to be able to give 5% of our profits back to our community in the form of free books for schools and littles in need.
Last year, we started the Inclusive Culture Club, a digital community curating family-friendly resources for celebrating diversity and fostering inclusion. Our lending library has over 200 books can be borrowed by Sea to Sky residents. Through this initiative we are running four free literacy programs including a student-led project that provides over $300 to each Squamish school for students to choose titles for positive change.
Little Bookshop is another way to extend this passion for literacy and acceptance deeper into our community. It is a retail gap we are happy to fill! We feel lucky to have this opportunity and can’t wait for our cart to arrive!
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