The Penguin Bookshop Munchkin’s Loft is guaranteed to be the best children’s book department in the area with Maryanne Eichorn, the former proprietor of Munchkin’s Bookshelf in Wexford, PA, joining our management team. As our physical store is taking shape, we have seized the opportunity to purchase Munchkin’s Bookshelf's store fixtures and to persuade Maryanne to continue delighting customers at the Penguin. Maryanne’s store was suffering from its position in a strip center that was unable to compete with new retail to the north. We feel fortunate that the timing of the closing of her store and the reopening of the Penguin has worked to our mutual advantage. Maryanne will bring extensive children’s bookselling, publishing and teaching experience to our second floor children’s area, our new “Munchkin’s Loft”. She thinks that our Sewickley store location is perfect for the creation of a thriving children’s department.
As you can see from this picture of Leah and Maryanne below, we are knee deep in the nitty gritty of packing up the Munchkin’s inventory for transport to the Penguin. In a couple of weeks, they will head to the BEA (Book Expo America) in Hollywood to focus on networking with publishers, authors and book wholesalers and to check out potential inventory for our store.
