Our History
P.G’s Storybook Emporium is more than just an online store, it’s a dream come true. I don’t remember what year it was, but many years ago, I learned that I could be my own boss and make money from home, which at the time was exactly what I, and my family, needed. After many failed attempts in different arenas, I realized that that’s not exactly how things really work. I was working with direct sales companies and, even though they said I was my own boss,I still had to follow their rules even when I didn’t agree with them.
And then, a friend of mine encouraged me to take a huge leap of faith and do something I’d always dreamed of, but was too scared to do, open my own online bookstore and leave the direct sales world. So, in 2019, with an impressive amount of support from my friends and family, I embarked on an adventure to make the Emporium a reality that I could be proud of. I re-did my office, I bought a lot of totes, I started collecting books and trying to ingest every piece of information I could about how to run a book company. And, in July, our website went live.
Over the years, we’ve made a lot of changes. Some have succeeded and we love, others, well, they didn’t become permanent and that’s ok. Some our practices were great in theory, but would never support a successful business, so we found another way to achieve our goals. It’s a few years later. We’re still a one woman show with support rom amazing family and friends. My kids help
me select books to share and are even starting to review books for us and my inventory has it’s own home in a corner of my house. It’s not always easy, in fact sometimes it’s down right over whelming, but together, we create something that we love and can be proud of, and we get to call it P.G’s Storybook Emporium.
Meet Paula
Hello! My name is Paula and I happen to the the owner here (and the person referred to with almost every “I” and, honestly, most “we”s you see around here). I’m in my forties, which sometimes makes this so much scarier (mostly when I think about failing), but I wouldn’t change it for the world!
I am the proud mom of three kiddos. My oldest is in his twenties, my middlest is in her teens and my youngest has yet to reach double digits. Yes, I did space them out! Thankfully, I have my amazing husband beside me on this journey because sometimes, being a mom is hard. I wouldn’t change them for the world! They certainly do make life interesting!
Just like in many families, Covid-19 marked life changes for us. My oldest graduated and we pulled my middle daughter out of traditional brick and mortar school in favor
Just like in many families, Covid-19 marked life changes for us. My oldest graduated and we pulled my middle daughter out of traditional brick and mortar school in favor
of schooling at home for a number of reasons. Through these experiences, we’ve since come to realize a number of things, one of them being that my house is filled with a neurodiversity. Between the five of us, we have three cases of diagnosed ADHD (apparently, I’ve had it all this time! Who knew?), one diagnosed case of Autism (two more suspected), one case of a language based learning disability, lots of anxiety, a sprinkle of depression and more! But these realizations have allowed us all to understand ourselves so much better, though we are still all a work in progress.
Our family also has three furbabies, two cats and one dog. If you follow us on social media, you probably already knew that, as they like to make themselves known while we work. lol We have a calico who is so sweet, loving and often curls up with me while I read named Riley. Then we have Nala (who is the oldest of these three) who was named after a Disney queen and she’s let that go to her head. She doesn’t often include herself in my work but sometimes she has to check in to make sure I’m doing a good enough job. Then there’s Skeye, our big puppy mutt who constantly sheds and thinks that whenever we are on the floor or awake, she needs to be involved in what we’re doing.
I spend my days schooling with the girls, being a mom, wife and adult and reading. I love to read and I love to collect books and stories. I think part of the reason I love my job is because I always have a reason to shop and obtain more books! I’m not a one genre person. Nope! I’ll pick up and read anything that looks good or interesting, but I’m definitely in my fantasy era (and embracing my nerd side) and I adore a good rom-com, so I would say those are my two favorite genres.
And, together, that makes up the people working behind the scenes at the Emporium! We may be a small group (especially because I do 97% of the work), but we do what we can.