Dickens Children’s Books & Publishing Lab will open on Main Street in downtown Vancouver this March. The owners, Kari and Jamund Ferguson, saw a need in the heart of Vancouver for a fun place for kids and their parents. The leased location will be walkable and convenient for people in surrounding neighborhoods and the Fergusons believe that with the new waterfront develop happening, there will be more and more families moving to the area that will want a unique, family friendly store to gather in.
The shop will be a bookstore with old and new handpicked titles, from board books to young adult literature. There will also be a vinyl record area with children’s records, art supplies, notebooks and cards, in addition to a publishing lab where kids can write, type, illustrate, print and bind their own stories or zines. The store will also regularly offer zine and book workshops to teach kids how to make both and eventually, they may offer a birthday party rental option.
“Basically, I wanted to make it the kind of store I would want to shop in now and that I wish I had as a child,” Kari said. “I loved reading when I was little, and I wanted to write children’s books. My school had a publishing center, and I still have some of those books that I wrote and illustrated. That’s why the publishing lab was so important for me to include — not all kids are into sports or drama or more ‘extroverted’ extracurriculars. I want Dickens to be the place where the creative kids who are a bit more introverted or shy feel comfortable. I want the store to feel whimsical and fun.”
The Fergusons have been working for the past months to get the shop ready to open and have already drawn and painted a 40-foot mural with favorite characters from children’s literature such as Babar, the BFG, Winnie the Pooh, Eloise and more. They share that they are excited to use their store to help encourage relationships and build connections between families in Vancouver.
Dickens Children’s Books & Publishing Lab will be located at 1911 Main St., Suite A, Vancouver. Visit http://www.dickenskids.com/.
