Tall Tales Books is now closed for business.

View past issues of our newsletter, “Tall Tales Mail” here:

| February 2011 | March 2011 | April 2011 | May 2011 | Summer 2011 |

| September 2011 | October 2011 | December 2011 | January 2012 |

| April 2012 | July 2012 | September 2012 | October 2012 | December 2012 |

News:

January 5th, 2013

Kate, Drew, and Emma

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January 4th, 2013

Kate, Drew, and Emma

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January 3rd, 2013

Stock update: after two crazy days, we have almost nothing left in stock.
As of end of day, Thursday January 4th, we have the following left:
14 young adult novels
9 middle grade novels
about 20 mini Munsch books
and 3 French books.

We will try to be here on Friday and Saturday as promised, but there may not be too much for people to take away. We’re so, so sorry!

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January 2nd, 2013

It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the closing of Tall Tales Books.

It has been an agonizing decision, but we have no alternative. Our store has continued to come up short month after month and the past few months have proven especially difficult. Unfortunately, we are at the end of our rope financially and have simply run out of options. The three of us have shed a lot of tears over the past week as we have struggled to find a way to continue, but there is nothing we can do.

It’s been absolutely heartbreaking to have to end our dream. We had hoped that this would be our career until retirement. We had hoped that Emma would one day work in the store after school. We had hoped we could watch your children grow up and continue introducing them to amazing new books. Unfortunately, it has not turned out that way.

When we first set out on this journey, we wanted to create a bookstore for kids that was fun, inviting, and felt comfortable to young and old. We wanted to be the place in the community for families to come and enjoy free activities such as storytime and author readings. Above all, we wanted to share our love of reading by getting quality books into the hands of children.  Although we are disappointed in the outcome, we feel we were very successful in a lot of ways and are very proud of what we have accomplished as a family. While we are overwhelmingly sad right now, we are also very thankful for the past three and a half years.

To all our loyal customers and Hero Society members: thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your support and for believing in us and what we were trying to do with our store. It’s been an absolute joy and pleasure to get to know you and your families. We have seen so many babies being born over the past few years and so many babies grow up into little people and we will cherish these memories always. We can’t tell you enough what it has meant to us to have your business, for all your words of encouragement, and for all the hard work you have put into spreading the word about Tall Tales. With all the help you have given us, we feel horrible if we’ve let any of you down or disappointed you. We are so sorry that we weren’t able to continue. Please know that we have done everything in our power to keep the store going.

To our families: thank you for all the help, emotional support, and contributions you have given us in our pursuit of our dream. You have been there for us throughout our lives and given so much of yourselves to help us along. We would never have been able to get this far without you and we appreciate all that you have done for us. We are so thankful and we love you.

To our incredible storyteller Shoshana Litman: thank you for being with us since the very beginning and telling magical stories at nearly every weekly storytime session at Tall Tales Books. You have been such a large part of what made our store what it was and you have brought so much joy to the lives of hundreds of little kids. You are a true talent and we will forever be in your debt for allowing us to be a part of your amazing storytelling. Thank you also to the wonderful Peg Hasted for also telling your stories at Tall Tales’ special events – we truly appreciate you helping us so much.

To Paisley Aiken of The Story Studio: thank you for inviting us to move into your space and become “literacy roommates”. We appreciate the opportunity, the support, and all the encouragement. It’s made us so happy to be witness to all the budding young authors that come through your programs and excitement in their eyes when they see their words become stories. You are doing an amazing thing for the youth of Victoria and we wish you all the success in the world. We wish we could continue to be a part of your worthwhile endeavor.

To our fellow small business owners, whether in Victoria or elsewhere: keep fighting the good fight. We know how hard it is and how difficult it can be to sacrifice so much to keep your dream alive. However, we also know how rewarding it can be and we can see the passion you put into everything, so don’t give up! Thanks to all the local businesses who have helped us over the years. Special thanks to Ian and Alain from The Good Planet Company: you were the first people we talked with when our idea was forming and you have been with us through the whole process. You have been our mentors and we will forever be thankful for all the advice, moral support, and friendship.

To all the authors and illustrators who actively supported our store: Thank you so much for helping our store and it’s been great getting to know you. So many of you have the right idea when it comes to the relationship between authors and bookstores, we both need to support each other to be successful. So, thank you to all the authors and illustrators who invited us into your lives, held events in our store, shopped at our store, and helped spread the word. We appreciate it!

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All payments for the Hero Society are now stopped. We want to do what we can to make good on as many obligations as possible. We will remain open this week (Wednesday Jan. 2nd through Saturday Jan. 5th 10am to 5pm) and encourage all Hero Society members with a credit or anyone with gift cards to please come do your shopping as soon as possible. We don’t have a lot of inventory left, but we’d like to make good on as much as we can. For anyone out of town or not able to come to the store, please contact us at 250-590-3032 or info@talltalesbooks.ca and we’ll try to help you remotely. Please help spread the word to anyone you know who may have Hero Society credits and gift certificates.

We implore everyone who reads this, no matter where you are, to please support your locally owned small businesses. We know how hard it is and we also know how much a difference it can make to spread the word about a business. Tell your friends, family, and co-workers about the businesses that you love and encourage everyone to visit them. Small businesses don’t exist in a vacuum and need frequent and ongoing support to survive.

We also ask anyone out there with resources to support The Story Studio. They have recently applied for charity status and are looking for corporate and private sponsorships for their ongoing school programs. If you are able to contribute or have any ideas, please contact Paisley at paisley@storystudio.ca. Their programs are incredible and make such a difference in the community and really deserve a lot of local support. Please note: The Story Studio is remaining open at 2280 Cadboro Bay Rd. without us and classes are continuing as usual.

The store will be open this week, Wednesday Jan. 2nd to Saturday Jan. 5th, 10am to 5pm. We will see how this week goes and may open for a day or two next week, but we are not sure at this point. This Thursday Jan. 3rd at 11am will be the final storytime at Tall Tales. Please come for one last story!

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Where we will go from here? We’re not sure. Unfortunately, this was our one and only shot at this. There will be a lot of soul searching in the next while as we find a new path. It will be difficult, but we are thankful for our family and friends who are always here for us. We hope above all else, that your experience at Tall Tales was positive and that we helped you discover some books that you will remember and treasure for the rest of your lives.

From our family to yours, we wish you all the best! Thanks for everything and happy reading.
Kate, Drew, and Emma

“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” – Oscar Wilde

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – disputed source

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December 7th, 2012

Our latest newsletter is out now!

Find out which five picture books are our favourite from 2012 in our latest newsletter. You can view it here.

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November 17th, 2012

Event Announcement: Join us for Oliver Jeffers Day!
Saturday November 25th from 11am to noon

Join us to celebrate one of our favourite children’s book creators ever and the release of his latest picture book “This Moose Belongs to Me”.

- Storytime at 11am featuring his imaginative stories!
- Design your own “Huey” craft!
- 10% off all in-stock Oliver Jeffers books during the event (15% off for Hero Society members)

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October 18th, 2012

Our latest newsletter is out now! You can view it here.

Special Spooky Saturday Storytime! – Saturday October 27th at 11am

Join us for a spooky storytime on a special day! Our wonderful storyteller Peg Hasted will present some Fall and Halloween themed stories and songs on Saturday October 27th at 11am. Plus there will be free balloon animals for everyone courtesy of Par-T-Perfect! Make sure to wear your best costume!

Perfect for ages 2 to 5, but open to everyone. Don’t worry, the stories won’t be too scary!

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October 9th, 2012

Announcing our new program for preschools and daycares: Does your child attend a preschool or daycare in Victoria? Please let the management know about our new “Words of Wonder Book Club” flyer program!

The “Words of Wonder Book Club” operates in a similar fashion to other flyer programs except for a few key differences:
1. We offer much higher quality books that we guarantee kids and caregivers will love!
2. Your money stays in the community and supports our family owned and operated bookstore!
3. The preschool or daycare has the choice to earn store credit at Tall Tales Books or cash back. This program is an excellent way to build the library at the preschool or daycare or it can be an excellent fundraising program.

Please spread the word about this program and encourage any daycare or preschool in Victoria to get in touch with us (they can call 250-590-3032 or email info@talltalesbooks.ca). Once we have signed them up for the program, we will arrange delivery of the flyers and order forms.

For a PDF copy of the welcome letter, please click here.

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October 2nd, 2012

September 11th, 2012

We’re back! Tall Tales Books is now open in our new location!

The newest chapter in the story of Tall Tales Books has begun! We have relocated our store to 2280 Cadboro Bay Road  (at Bowker Ave.) in Oak Bay and are now sharing space with the wonderful Story Studio.

We love the new digs and our new neighbourhood and we hope you will as well. Free parking anyone?

This has been a very exciting and nerve-wracking time for us. We’ve been working our tails off to make all this happen, but we haven’t done it alone! First, we’d like to thank Paisley and the gang at The Story Studio for opening up their space to us and giving us this tremendous opportunity. We’re looking forward to all the upcoming teamwork! A huge thank you to Jesse our amazing contractor for all his hard work getting the new location ready for us and to our friend David for his muscle. Thanks also to the rest of our friends and family for all their help, support, and babysitting – we couldn’t have done this without you!

And, of course, thank you to all of our wonderful customers for all your support, kind words, and excitement for our new location. We can’t wait for you to all visit us!

See you soon,
Kate, Drew, and Emma

P.S. Please join us at our Open House coming up on Saturday September 15th from 1pm to 4pm!

August 25th, 2012

Tall Tales is now closed and we are moving to the new location in Oak Bay (2280 Cadboro Bay Road). We anticipate re-opening mid-September, check back here for updates.

 

 

We will be closed on Sunday April 4^th and our usual Monday April 5^th for the Easter Holiday Weekend.

Happy Easter!