Two Harding Academy high school students have opened a bookstore in downtown Searcy. The Book Nest had a flash opening on Saturday, Aug. 24, but does not have regular hours yet.
The founders, sisters Maryella and Julianne Baker, said they always wanted a bookstore and chose to start this nonprofit business to benefit local foster care organization Sparrow’s Promise.
“I love reading,” Maryella said “opening up a bookstore was always a dream of mine.”
Sparrow’s Promise is a faith-based organization that helps families who foster children. The Baker sisters said they hope to benefit Sparrow’s Promise as much as they can through their bookstore.
Brandon Tittle, executive director of Sparrow’s Promise, said he thinks The Book Nest will benefit both Sparrow’s Promise and the Searcy community as a whole.
“We are excited to be able to partner with the supporters working to open The Book Nest,” Tittle said “We think it’s a win-win for the community, as we will now have access to a second bookstore while supporting the strengthening of local families at the same time.”
As of right now, Sparrow’s Promise is the only organization that The Book Nest benefits, but the Baker sisters are hoping to extend their reach to other foster care organizations in the future.
“We would love for The Book Nest to not only benefit Sparrow’s Promise, but we don’t know what that’s going to look like yet,” Julianne said.
Although the bookstore has not announced official hours, The Book Nest opened for a few hours during Searcy’s Beats & Eats on Saturday, Aug. 24, to spread awareness and encourage book donations. It also opened for irregular hours in the weeks that followed, as announced on social media.
“We planned on doing a flash opening at Beats & Eats because we knew more people would learn about the bookstore if we did,” Julianne said “and we ended up having a lot of people come.”
The Book Nest has mainly received book donations from friends and families who heard about the need through social media.
As high school business owners, the Baker sisters said they are still trying to learn how to operate and manage a business while also keeping up with their academic obligations.
“In the summer, it was really easy just to go up to the bookstore and work,” Maryella said “and now it’s easy to just go after school. But if we’re going to be a regular day-to-day business, we’ll have to have normal hours.”
The sisters hope to eventually hire more workers once the business has a steadier income. Right now, they have only had volunteers. They also hope to sell books online.
“We want to sell books online so that if we ever do get slower in the store, we can still have income from an online business,” Maryella said.
The sisters plan to open the store around the beginning of September and hope to get as much traction and as many visitors as possible.