“Putting the magic back in literature.” Meet owner of Boardman’s new cozy bookstore
Caroline Kishton recently unveiled Spellbound Sisters, a bookstore and cafe in Boardman dedicated to her two daughters.
During the grand opening, the first 100 people through the doors received a Spellbound Sister’s swag bag. One of the 100 bags contained a golden ticket that gifted the winner a Spellbound Sisters’ membership for a year.
Membership includes a free gift every month, discounts on book, merchandise and on cafe purchases.
Meet Caroline Kishton
Kishton said Spellbound Sisters is designed to be a home away from home for book lovers in the Boardman community.
“I want to put the magic back in the literature, I really do, because there’s a lot of that missing right now, especially with social media, there’s a lot of it missing, and people don’t realize how much they’re missing when it comes to this,” she said. “I’m hoping Spellbound Sisters gives people a reason to come in and start to look and realize there’s a genre out there for books they didn’t know they liked.”
“If you can’t find it, I’m more than willing to order stuff,” Kishton added. “I’m excited because people are gonna come in here and they’re gonna bring in books that I’ve never heard.”
Kishton said she was shocked to find out over 30% of adults don’t pick up another book after they graduate high school, according to Literacy Inc.
As a former English high school teacher, she wanted to open Spellbound Sisters to unite the community while honoring her love of reading.
“I have two daughters. They’re little sisters, and they’ve always into the books,” Kishton said. “It became one of those things, rolled into Spellbound Sisters. They love to read, and they love books. This is a legacy I can leave to them that I’m hoping will do well, and that they can take over.”
Opening Spellbound Sisters bookstore, cafe
Kishton’s husband owns Shirt Wizard, which is right next door to Spellbound Sisters.
Shirt Wizard has been around since 1968, and the space next door used to be a gym and banquet center.
“I’ve been running Shirt Wizard since 2020,” Kishton said. “But Spellbound Sisters is something I wanted to start for me and my girls. When we walked into this building, the floor was turf. There were no walls; there were holes in these walls that were about this big. We’re pulling down the ceiling - we’re opening stuff up.”
Kishton said she hired a local contractor to add walls and mount shelves for all the games and books, some of which come from her personal collection.
Visit Spellbound Sisters in Boardman at 10 a.m. at 7095 Lockwood Blvd.
“The cafe is going to open at the end of January,” Kishton said. “I have all my equipment. We’re sourcing coffee from my local Youngstown coffee roaster, Global Awakening - their coffee is phenomenal. I want people to be here and enjoy the literature and the magic. When we have live music and events, I want people to be comfortable here. It’s kind of like coming home, but it’s coming home with a little bit of pizzazz.”
Since Spellbound Sisters was featured on WKBN, Kishton said the support from the local Boardman community and book lovers from all over has been amazing.
“The amount of support I have received in the past 24 hours is mind blowing, absolutely mind blowing, and I’m so grateful for it. It was more than I ever expected,” she said. “There is a good chunk of Ohio books, and the local authors. I have authors that were in my email last night so fast because they want to be featured here. I’m big about putting back into local and I’m so grateful that the local community was like, ‘Yeah, we need this. Let’s do this.’”
With her marketing director Stacy Willis, Kishton will start hosting events like board game date nights, book club meetings, physic readings and more.
“Every ticket is going to come with a drink and a snack,” Kishton said. “Some nights we’ll have live music. Somebody just posted on Facebook, which I thought was a phenomenal idea, hosting a poetry smash. I’m going to have Mommy and Me story time in here because the more we read to these little ones, the farther in life they get, and the the more that they can accomplish, because they’ve got an imagination and a good foundation.”
Spellbound Sisters’ regular hours are 10 a.m. - 4 pm. on Sunday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
