How did Yellow House Story Shoppe get its name?
In the summer of 2019, my husband and I took our four kids to the northeast--a favorite destination for us over the years--to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary as a family. Little did I know, that somewhere between Maine and Massachusetts, we would also celebrate the kickoff of a tiny little business idea that was being born in my heart. Within a couple of weeks, we had a bundle of new books and new dreams to bring home with us, as we formed the early concepts of what has now become a real life “story shoppe”!
One of the many ideas that was swirling around us on that trip, was what my little bookshop would be called. It was hard for me to really sum up what books have always meant to our family, and especially difficult to put a name to what we were hoping could take form.
The first step to considering a name for this little corner bookshop of mine was thinking about the books we have loved most over the years. One of the many that instantly came to mind was Mother Carey’s Chickens, by Kate Douglas Wiggin, in which a beautiful family stumbles into living in a house that they so lovingly turn into a home. They call it The Yellow House and it’s always held a special place in my mama heart.
I mentioned this idea for a name to my oldest daughter, who turned to me, wide-eyed, and said, ‘Mom! It’s also OUR yellow house! It’s perfect!” In an instant, my mind rushed through scene after scene of my three precious girls, playing for hours in their very own little yellow playhouse, a Christmas gift that sat nestled into the corner of our backyard for years and years of their childhood.
It had gardens and a clothesline, a mailbox nailed to the tree, a laddered loft full of blankets and a kitchen made up of thrift store dishes. Through the many books we were reading that gave them living ideas and filled their minds with imagination---in their own little yellow house--they became Susan, Lucy, and Mrs. Beaver from Narnia, or Mary, Laura, and Carrie from Little House. They hung clothes up to dry as pioneers, they fought for their families’ safety in the civil war, they survived in a castle from the Middle Ages, and even ran for their lives through the deep snow of Russia. They played school, had meetings, cleaned house, planted gardens, and devised countless plays and programs in the comfy loft of that tiny playhouse. It was the perfect place to grow up and imagine these stories into life; and in turn, it was the perfect name for my little corner bookshop: Yellow House Story Shoppe.
This is why I opened my little bookshop. This is why I hope families find what we have found within the pages of these stories. And this is why I know we were each meant for story. To hear them, to read them, to imagine them, and to live great ones ourselves!
