Hicklebee's has sold San Jose's kids their first books since 1979
Four friends with no retail experience opened a children's bookstore in Willow Glen — and once hosted J.K. Rowling before anyone needed to book a hall.
In 1979, four friends with young children and “buckets of enthusiasm,” as founder Valerie Lewis has described it, opened a children's bookstore in a small Willow Glen space with no retail experience between them. Hicklebee's Books has been there ever since, now expanded across the street into a shop built partly from shelving salvaged from bookstores that closed or upgraded.
The store's Wall of Fame has become something like a museum — published authors and illustrators are invited to draw or sign directly on the walls and doors, including a young J.K. Rowling early in her career, before later visits required renting an outside hall to fit the crowd.
Hicklebee's has won national recognition for its work getting kids reading, and Lewis's own philosophy hasn't changed much since 1979: warmth first, magic second, and a bathtub full of pillows for anyone who wants to read in peace.