Tell us about the Yellow House Story Shoppe.
My bookshop is focused on sharing wonderful children’s books with the community! I have a passion for helping families build their home libraries with children’s books that have stood the test of time and I delight in offering beautiful and imaginative stories to kids of all ages. My selection is curated and carefully selected— and every book has been rescued and rehabilitated to give it a second life in a new family’s home. Although the books at Yellow House are gently used, they have much more life to give.

What inspired you to open your business and what is the inspiration for the name?
My business began from a conversation I had with a mother of tiny toddlers in the spring of 2019. Overwhelmed by the big box bookstores, she asked for advice on what books to begin purchasing for her children. I gathered a few treasures for her and some other friends and invited them into my home to shop from my dining room table. It was so successful that I decided to gather more gently-used books on our family road trip to the northeast that summer…and Yellow House Story Shoppe was born! My husband and children cheered me on and were my sounding board for every detail, including the name of my soon-to-be bookshop.

As I considered what I would call my shop, I knew that I wanted it to represent what books have meant to our family. A book that has always been dear to us is Mother Carey’s Chickens, by Kate Douglas Wiggin. In this story, a family lovingly turns a house into a home and call it The Yellow House. It has always held a special place in my heart, as the mother stewards what little she has and makes a haven of rest and beauty for her family. As I shared these initial thoughts with my daughters, my oldest suddenly exclaimed, “It’s perfect, Mom! Because it’s also OUR yellow house!” In that moment, the name became doubly meaningful: our girls had a yellow wooden playhouse in our backyard for years that was also their haven of imagination. Every book we read filled their minds with imagination and this yellow house was where they played out and pretended to be the characters from those very books. It was the perfect place to grow up and imagine these stories into life, which was the very thing I was hoping to create in my newly born bookshop: Yellow House Story Shoppe.

Chelsea’s original store in her home

The Yellow House Story Shoppe

Who is your typical customer?
My primary customers are moms and dads who are raising kids in their homes. As a homeschooling mom for almost fifteen years, I have many customers who also educate at home. However, my customers come from a wide range of backgrounds and life stages. My favorite thing to do is meet customers who have found a copy of a book they cherished when they were little, or who are shopping for a baby gift or birthday present for a friend’s child. I have grandmothers who shop with me, teachers who stock their classrooms with literature they find on my shelves—even a dentist who stocked his waiting room with quality children’s books from my shop.

What is your background? Have you always been an entrepreneur?
My education background is in child and adolescent therapy and child development. However, my real experience comes from being an avid reader my whole life, as well as a book-collector and homeschooling teaching and mother. As mom to four children, I have spent years reading and discovering wonderful stories with them, as we learned at home together. So, I would say my love of books, my convictions around what they can do for a family who reads, and my deep knowledge of what makes a story beautiful and imaginative and child-appropriate is the true impetus for starting a business, rather than a desire to be an entrepreneur.

Curated selections at the shop

What skills do you find most necessary in running a new small business?
In today’s world, I know many of the skills we may need most are technological in nature—a good marketing plan, and solid strategies for development. I have certainly found the need for strong social media, well-planned engagement through design and advertising, and being connected in the community. But honestly, I believe that having a love for your customer and a passion for the product you sell is key. The business skills are necessary, of course, but they are not sufficient if you desire to be a business owner who can have a sustained impact and really make a difference in the lives of people.

What is your connection to Richardson?
I live and work and shop and have deep community in Richardson and it’s by far the best-kept secret “small town” in the metroplex. We have been in the area since 2017 and we absolutely love this deeply rooted community and hope to be here for years to come. Beyond raising a family here, having a church family here, and having extended family here, I feel blessed to have the privilege of having a small business here as well. In so many ways, the customers I serve and get to know have become like family, too. Richardson is a special place, where people really do invest in one another, support small business in unique ways, and share the common goal of raising families in ways that look much more like the world we grew up in—where you know your neighbors, your grocery clerk, your coffee barista, and your local bookshop owner. Although I have had other small businesses through the years, they have simply been out of an overflow of creativity, not necessarily out of a desire to run a business. I am deeply grateful to have an entrepreneurial-minded husband who makes all my dreams and visions come true in a wise and sustainable way, and who invests his time, experience and knowledge into making this business successful! This effort is not one I make on my own, and I am indebted to my family, who supports and works alongside me in every part of this shop.

What three words would you use to describe yourself?
I’m a life-long learner, who never tires of discovering new things and feels passionate about inspiring others to do the same. I am also a cultivator of the good, true, and beautiful—whether it be in stories, in my home, or in the world, I care deeply about bringing beauty and goodness into every crevice of life. And, lastly, I would say that I am detail-oriented, with a knack for bringing order to chaos.

Anything else you’d love for your neighbors to know about the book shop or you?
For those who might not have visited Yellow House yet, I encourage you to stop by or reach out! I’d love to get to meet you or help you find the perfect book for the child in your life. More than anything, I hope my shop inspires people everywhere to slow down and enjoy a life-giving story, no matter your age. Visit us to find beautiful stories, selected with care and deep love for the families you are raising, the neighbors you are celebrating, or the children you are caring for in your lives and communities.

The Jacob childrens own yellow playhouse