Here’s Why

Call me Rachel. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — I came to Souderton, a historic neighborhood with a small-town feel and the potential for a strong future. In the little town, “where families begin,” I raised my own two incredible children. Along the way, I’ve witnessed the revitalization of the town. The community has made Souderton not just a place to start a family, but to stay and grow and do business. Now I want to enhance that sense of family and community and open a bookstore here.

“Why a bookstore?” you ask. The answer lies in the recesses of my memories as a little girl listening to my father read me endless bedtime stories as I lay snuggled under a blanket with attention rapt. I remember the smell of a new book when the cover is flipped open, as well as the slightly yellowed edges of pages read many times before. I remember staying up too late to read “just one more page.” Mostly though, I remember how it was just me, my father, and a story to carry us away for that little space of time. It’s a tradition I have carried on with my children…and one day I hope they will carry on with theirs.

I’m forever poking my nose into the little bookstores I find when I travel around. I love how you never know what you will find or where the rows of stories will take you and how you inevitably meet someone else looking for that same story as you. I love the community that books bring out in people. A shared interest, a new hobby, a continued adventure, all just waiting for us to find.

I want to bring that same sense of nostalgia that books have given to me, to others. I want to create a place where stories bind us together as neighbors, friends, and family. I want to give back to the town that has made me feel at home.

Juggling both the very real needs of today with this desire to bring my dream to reality has been no easy task. That’s why I’m asking you to join my journey. Help enrich our town and make Hill & Hollow Books a place where we can come together to nurture minds and build community, one book at a time.