The Story Garden, St. Pete’s first children’s bookstore, opens next month

Megan Kotsko, owner of The Story Garden, knows what she missed most about teaching.

“I miss watching children learn how to read for the first time and being a part of that process and a part of that new identity as a reader,” she said. “What an amazing process that is.”

When Kotsko left teaching after nearly two decades to raise her son, who will be six in April, she never imagined one of her longtime dreams would come true. The Story Garden, the area’s first children’s bookstore, will open soon in Historic Uptown.

“We have always loved the idea of a children’s bookstore,” she said, reminiscing about how “dreamy” The Shop Around Corner in “You’ve Got Mail” is. “It was never something I thought was a realistic thing that I would do. We’ve seen this building for years just turning into our own neighborhood. One day a for sale sign went up.”

Kotsko, her husband and their partners bought the nearly a century-old property at 832 14th St. N in St. Petersburg a couple of years ago. The building was once a small neighborhood grocery store with an apartment upstairs. Kotsko said the building was vacant for about 30 years before The Story Garden moved in.

As the Kotskos fixed up the space, they heard from longtime residents of Bon Air, a small sub-neighborhood of Historic Uptown that includes homes between 5th and 9th Avenues N and 13th through 16th Streets N.

With new windows, fresh coats of paint—navy blue outside, pale peachy pink inside—and an interior space filled with fresh bookshelves, books and cozy reading spaces, The Story Garden has plans to finally open in March.

“I just took a leap of faith. I still have a lot of questions, so I feel like I’m living that lifelong learner speech that I gave to my students,” Kotsko said. “I’m trying something new, and I feel like there’s a need for it in the community.”

Owning a bookstore is a romantic dream for many book lovers, but Kotsko is just as passionate about children’s literacy and providing a safe “third space” for kids and families in the community.

“So many conversations I’ve had with parents when their child is a natural reader and it just clicks. It’s such a gift because when kids struggle it’s heartbreaking,” she said. “(Reading) is such a joy and it’s a skill for life.”

Kotsko took the skills she had as a kindergarten and first-grade teacher—knowing how to connect with kids and presenting stories to them in an appealing way—and applied them to the mission and layout of The Story Garden. With so many young families moving to St. Pete and looking for those family-friendly “third spaces,” it was in Kotsko’s favor to keep the bookstore just for kids’ books.

The Story Garden will have books for a range of ages from babies and toddlers to middle-grade readers. With the knowledge of how young children select books in the classroom, many books will be displayed with their covers facing outward or placed in themed baskets with puzzles or small toys. The store will have reading nooks and small cafe tables as well as space for story time and book clubs.

“It means so much to them to be able to…choose their own books, so now we’re just offering another space for families too,” Kotsko said.

At a time when book bans and challenges continue to rise across the country, opening a kids’ bookstore is a brick-and-mortar leap for children’s literacy. A big part of The Story Garden’s mission is to “be a place for all children and for them to see themselves in the books that we have on display and that we’re reading to them.”

“I’ve always been a champion of students, of children,” she said. “I plan on carrying books for all the different holidays and cultures and families. There are books for everyone. I want it to be a safe place. I want it to be a welcoming space.”

“I think when that’s your driving mission—being inclusive and having a place for all families and all children…I don’t see any other way to do it.”

As Kotsko and her crew put the final touches—and all the books—on The Story Garden, the bookstore hosted a sneak peek and Valentine’s Day-themed storytime on Valentine’s Day. The Story Garden will also have a booth at Localtopia, happening on Saturday in Williams Park.

Follow The Story Garden’s updates on Facebook or @stpetestorygarden on Instagram. Shop online through Bookshop.org.

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This article appears in Feb 13-19, 2025.