Conservation Community to Welcome Under the Sycamore Tree

The decade-old "conservation community" of Prairie Crossing, in Grayslake, Illinois, will soon welcome a children's bookstore to the neighborhood. Owner Jackie Harris is days away from the grand opening of Under the Sycamore Tree Bookstore, a 2,800-square-foot store on the ground level of a new building in the development's Station Square. Several other specialty shops and a cafe are also opening shortly.

The upper floors of the three new buildings are devoted to 36 condominiums, the only available homes left in this critically acclaimed, planned community of 395 homes, designed to combine preservation of open land, responsible development, community involvement, energy efficiency, and easy mass transportation.

Harris called Prairie Crossing, with its miles of bike and walking paths, organic farm and market, boating, fishing, and swimming, on-site charter school, horse stables, and gracious homes, "kid heaven."

"We are one hour from downtown Chicago, with a walk to the train, and everything is community oriented. People can't wait for the store to open," Harris said.

Despite construction delays that have pushed back the store's planned soft opening, Harris said, "The grand opening will run from November 10 through the 12. Several of the stores are opening then -- Ten Thousand Villages, a fair trade handcrafts store, and a children's clothing boutique. The cafe, Prairie Croissant, will open a little later," she explained. "The promotion and advertising for the grand opening is being handled by the [Prairie Crossing] management. There will be wrap-around advertisements for area copies of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. We are having a lot of great events -- the high school jazz band, face painting, a magic show, and a troupe of African drummers."

Authors will also be featured, according to Harris, including a notable Prairie Crossing resident -- Sara Gruen, who will be signing copies of Water for Elephants (Algonquin) on Saturday evening, November 11.

Under the Sycamore Tree will carry a selection of books for adults, along with a complete inventory of books for young people from birth to high school, Harris said. "The store is reminiscent of an old farm house, and we're going to put up a porch swing on our porch for story times."

Also in the works are a teddy bear tea party, a dreidel party, and several fundraising events. Harris is also excited about the store's soon-to-launch BookSense.com website and its potential to introduce people to the store, publicize events, and sell books.

Harris, who taught middle and elementary grades for 12 years, prepared well for her bookselling career by attending a Booksellers School and consulting with Paz & Associates and by participating in regional trade shows and the first ABA Winter Institute. She termed the institute the "best thing I could have done," and credited an ABA session at the past Great Lakes Booksellers Association trade show with enabling her to renegotiate a lower rent.

Harris views bookselling as a wide-open opportunity for education. "The right books always made any topic more interesting to kids," she told BTW. "I feel at home around all these books -- part of me still wants to be a teacher." --Nomi Schwartz