It all started with a dream, and a very detailed business plan.
Henry Padrón-Morales and Pamela Bailie have known each other for years, and met when Padrón-Morales was a teacherat Bailie’s children's school. Like-minded souls, they became fast friends, and during their many talks about the future and their dreams, they realized they could fill a void in their community.
A multicultural learning space where people could gather to read, perform, and learn about different languages and cultures. A bookstore, but with diverse inventory at the center; that is what sets Hipocampo Children’s Booksapart.
“We carry books in 14 different languages for children and books in English and Spanish for adults,” Bailie said, calling their inventory extremely diverse for the sake of the community. “These books are both mirrors so people can see themselves, and doorways so others can learn .”
In 2016, Padrón and Bailie developed the concept, and spent two years on their business plan, which they are very proud of, and doing as much research on bookstores and community spaces in Rochester and nationwide.
“This is a project born out of a dream, but well-calculatedand executed after much contemplation and analysis. We visited bookstores in Canada, New York City, Spain, so we could get the feeling of what we needed here in Rochester,” said Padrón-Morales.
Their grand opening was set for 2018, but the government shutdown delayed everything by months. Finally, in March of 2019 they opened their doors at 638 South Avenue in Rochester.
Diverse learning at its core
While the majority of the selection is children’s books, Hipocampo also boasts a wide selection of young adult books, a growing section for adults, ethnically diverse cookbooks, and graphic novels.
Among all these categories, a common theme is education on long standing social issues like racism and inequality. From children’s books about self acceptance of black hair to adult literature on Puerto Rican issues like independence and revolution, Hipocampo prides itself on teaching its customers about the different cultures in Rochester through the lens of authors from other cities and countries.
Bailie and Padrón-Morales managed to create a space that was just what they wanted, with thousands of books displayed onshelves with wheels so that the space could be transformed to meet the needs of the event.
"When we started, we knew that this would be a space for learning, meeting, and performing," said Padrón.
The learning aspect is not only in the books, but in workshops on Puerto Rican folklore and LatinAmerican cultures. Groups would often meet for dance lessons, hold community meetings, and even attend book signings. Performances were put on by dance troupes and musical groups like Womba Africa.
Survive the impossible
Even though they had only been open for a year, when the pandemic hit, their event calendar was fully booked with artistic performances,author readings and their highly popular storytimes.
Suddenly, the space used for bomba lessons, community meetings, and storytime had to close abruptly.
While it’s true that many small businesses have closed since March, Hipocampo manages to not only stay afloat, but thrive because of the community that surrounds them.
“Knowing the people and the community meant that while we had to close our physical doors, we still had support,” said Pamela.
Adjusting was hard, but both Padrón-Moralesand Bailie said that thanks to their detailed business plan, they have managed to come up with ways to keep business coming.
They kept pushing out book orders through the shop on their website. They moved storytime to Facebook Live. They continued to network with the community to keep their presence known.
When they reopened their store in late July, they removed all the seating, stocked up on cleaning supplies,kept the door open for ventilation and made masks mandatory.
Padrón also got very creative with the storytimes. While he sometimes still does the Facebook Live readings, they began hosting families in the space by putting hula hoops on the floor and using them to keep groups distanced from each other.
While the pandemic has put a damper on their future plans, Padrón-Morales and Bailie are proud of what they've achieved in under two years. They remain hopeful that they will their plans to have a Spanish-English summer camp, and other culturally relevant events.
"We want the books and the storeto reflect the children of Rochester and western New York," Bailie said.
