Main Street Mavericks Business Spotlight: An Updated Check-In With Sunrise Books

Merchant Maverick first met Edith Johnson (Edie to her friends and bookstore patrons) in the summer of 2023. She was the recipient of Merchant Maverick’s grant for Portland-owned businesses — she had recently decided to expand her bookstore pop-up into a brick-and-mortar location in NE Portland, Oregon.

Her business has now been open for almost two years. In that time, she has added a new member to her family, brought amazing storytimes and authors into her space, and created a community of readers.

We went back to visit Edith on our first day of the Main Street Mavericks road trip around Oregon. With two of her four kids in tow (including her four-month-old baby) and recently back from maternity leave, we were so excited to be back to hear how things have been going.

Q&A With Sunrise Books

Can you remind our readers about why you wanted to start a bookstore?

First, I love stories and I love bringing people together. I have kids, and I took them to storytimes, and I always thought, what if I had a bookstore? If I had a bookstore, I’d do it like this: I would have these types of books. I got the opportunity to start a bookstore, and here I am. I went for it.

So, Sunrise Books started off with just an idea. First off, I love writing. I’m a secret writer. I love writing; I love stories. And I was taking my girl to storytimes. I have four kids, and I’m taking the first one to storytime, and it was just a passing thought: If I had a bookstore, what would it be like? And it grew from there!

I actually wrote a business plan on my phone. But to get more immersed in the book world, I started working at a bookstore. I worked at Powell’s bookstore, and I loved it. And every day, shelving books, I was adding stuff to my own business plan.

This is during the pandemic, and I was like, you know what? My name is Edith, and I had a grandmother named Edith. She passed away during the pandemic, and it was a beautiful ceremony. But one thing I learned about her is she had many gifts and didn’t go after them. She wrote a letter to each one of her seven children, and she was a writer. I said to myself, I don’t want to die with talent inside of me. And so, as my duty as an Edith, I’m going to go out and go for it.

So, I used to play the trumpet. And I sold my trumpet to get startup money and to get some books. And I got two boxes of books, a table, and a bubble machine. And I walked into a smoothie shop, which is a block from here, and I asked her to rent her wall to sell books out of the bookstore out of her smoothie shop. She said, “Of course,” and everything came from that moment.

It was a success, and I love this neighborhood. And I said a small little prayer, like, if I can have a bookstore anywhere, it’d be in this neighborhood, please let it be in this neighborhood.

And nine months later, I got the keys to the bookstore, and I’ve been here month by month making it.

Is the smoothie shop still there? Do you go visit?

She is! Destiny, my girl. She’s my business friend. I still go just check in on her like I’m having a hard time. Summer was so rough. She was like, I know, I know everybody’s on vacation.

Yeah, it’s really important to have that community and people who can totally know, relate, and resonate [with you]. Sometimes, family doesn’t know, and spouses don’t know.

But when someone’s going through the same struggle, it’s like, okay, I’m running low on books. And she says, well, I’m running low on straws. Like, we’re gonna make it. How we’re gonna do it? We’re gonna do it. I got your back, girl. So yeah. Community is important in small business.

What’s one challenge you are facing, and how can the community help?

One challenge that I am facing always is getting people through the doors.

My location is in a great neighborhood, but I’m kind of up in the back in the corner, so it’s hard to find. But getting people through the doors and, um, y’all … paying the rent every month can be a challenge. So, how can the community help? Spread the word.

The community has been so great with word of mouth and letting people know I’m here. Yes, I exist. I’m a children’s bookstore. I love community, people, and stories. So, you can help by coming, buying books, spreading the word, and making Sunrise Books a part of your community and culture.

What is your top piece of advice for small business owners just starting out?

Everything doesn’t have to be perfect at first. You don’t need every piece of shelving furniture, all the music, everything. Give yourself room to grow and reinvent yourself because you might say, “Hey, I love a bookstore.” I wanted just books, and then I was like, oh wait, I actually like paper goods more, and I like painting, and I want to bring that more into my space.

So, give yourself room to grow and always look for ways to grow.

If it’s a free marketing class, free SEO class, or something like that, go for it and collab, collab, collab, collab. Get to know your other small business owners. There’s no competition. It’s all about collaboration. Getting in cahoots with other people. You can’t do this alone. You don’t want to do it alone. And it’s fun with more people. That’s it. So that’s my three things.

What is the best part of being a small business owner?

The best part is that I can bring my kids to work with me, so I don’t have to pay for childcare. The other best part of being a small business owner is that I personally love meeting people. I love meeting a lot of new people, and I love the small business community here in Portland.

They’re nice; they’re friendly, and they’re always willing to help share information. So, I love meeting other small business owners, hearing their stories, and learning from them. Having your own business, it’s your own thing. You can paint the wall if you want. You can do whatever you want. So, having the freedom of just having your own spot.

What are your favorite things to sell here?

Okay, if they are kids, I usually point them to my favorite picture book, which is sold out right now. I love all my books, but I send them to a picture book that I love, which is Knight Owl or What Do You Want to Eat?

Also, I’m really a huge, huge Tolkien fan.

So, I’m probably going to push some Hobbit, Lord of the Rings stuff on you, some fantasy stuff. So, a fun, funny picture book or some deep, dark fantasy.

You’ve expressed some concern about the future of Sunrise. Can you speak on that?

A business is like your baby. Right? Like, it’s born out of your heart and out of your passion and the fear that I can’t sustain it, that I’ve done everything [I can], and I’m getting burned out, and I’m just tired, and I don’t want to do it anymore? It’s always there, lurking in the back, you know, and then something happens, and I get encouraged.

I have a conversation with the customers. Someone comes in, I get a good collaboration, and you get encouraged, but there’s always a fear that I might not make it next month or next year, you know.

You get in survival mode instead of thrive mode. So you’re just doing things to stay afloat instead of staying true to your passion.

That’s more fearful than losing [the store] for me. Cause I feel like, okay, if I stop, I can start again. But if I get into a place that’s not true to me, I’m just doing it to pay the bills, then what’s the point of me having my own business? I’m just working again.

What are some of the community-building things that you’ve done?

Yes, I learned as I was going about my business day by day, week by week, that I love people.

I love to bring people together. I love seeing new moms come in who might be timid. Our old moms, too, might be timid or shy. Sometimes, we’re in our bubble, and we don’t know what’s normal. We don’t know that it’s normal for a toddler to scream and yell because they didn’t get the blue bowl that morning for breakfast, and then you’re crying, too.

So, to come into a space where not only are you going through that, but other moms are going through that, and you guys can bounce ideas. I love seeing that. It brings joy to my heart. I’m just sitting back, and then parents are sharing information, how they feed their kids … because feeding is a big deal … or how they discipline their kids, and things like that.

I am actually working with a parenting expert or a parenting coach, and we’re going to do a little retreat thing for moms coming up this fall and winter, and I’m really excited about that.

I just try to do something every week for families — something fun and playful. Not something so serious. We got enough stuff going on, politics, pandemic, and all the things. We got so much stuff. I want a space of joy. We do story times three times a week for babies, toddlers, and we have authors come in at least two, three times a month.

I want to cultivate a space of joy for everyone, young and old.

Where can we find Sunrise Books?

If you’re in Portland, visit Edith’s brick-and-mortar location on NE Fremont.

Or you can head to her website to place an order online.

And don’t forget to follow her on social media: Instagram and Facebook.