Hello! I can't tell you how excited and enthusiastic I am about our new expansion at breathe books. After eight successful years and much thought about smart growth, we are creating breathe bookstore café! And if you know breathe books, you know it will be special. Our philosophy for the café is about offering you the best, most delicious and healthy foods. We will specialize in vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, raw and Ayurvedic foods, using the finest local ingredients, prepared by the best veggie/vegan/raw/gluten-free/Ayurvedic chefs in the region.
As we move onto the next phase which will deepen our roots and feed your soul even more, we are asking you to help us. Our goal is to raise $15,000 by January 31, 2013, specifically for café equipment including a La Marzacco Espresso machine, coffee grinders, professional juicer and mixer. If we raise more, it will support a café design to make your heart sing. I am asking you -- our most loyal and supportive customers -- to continue your support of breathe books by helping us reach our goal and more!
breathe books just celebrated eight years here in Hampden, and during this time we have seen a community create itself around the bookstore. With over 5000 people on our email list, and thousands more on Facebook and Twitter, our community is a mainstay in the region as well as the independent book store world. Authors and speakers from around the globe come to breathe. And local groups have used our spaces for meditation, book clubs, and discussion groups since we opened.
I am so eager to open the café that I plan to close the bookstore for a few weeks in late January so that we can open as breathe bookstore café in February just in time for hot soups, coffee drinks, hearty grain and bean dishes -- all in the warm glow of our newly designed bookstore café.
Now I know the bookstore café idea isn't new, but the breathe bookstore café is embarking on a path that we have not found in Baltimore -- a vegetarian café which will use no white sugar or white flour in our baking and cooking. When we say we are healthy we mean it!! Our creative chefs include Joanne Goshen (Louie's Bookstore Café, Sobo Café and Omega Institute) and Renee and Don Gorman (Puffins Restaurant, Waverly Farmer's Market). And, as a certified Ayurvedic consultant and cooking teacher, I will be offering my favorite Ayurvedic dishes as well. Your donation will help us on our way.
We will be serving direct-trade, organic Counter Culture coffee, fair-trade organic teas and fresh juices. Items on the menu will include gluten-free scones, muffins and cookies, vegetarian and vegan soups, bean and grain dishes, raw delights, granola, fruit crisp, yogurt parfaits and more. We will have four to six tables on the first floor of the bookstore, lounge-type seating in back, and new access to the upstairs to enjoy your treats and drinks in a quite space. We will also have porch seating and a coffee bar overlooking 36th Street!
In addition to our fabulous book selection, we’ll have a selection of international newspapers and magazines, expanded children's book section, as well as your favorite gifts including incense, essential oils, crystals and stones, Ayurvedic body products and organic spices, greeting cards, journals, meditation cushions and more.
PERKS!
Take a look at the various donation levels and the gifts you will receive. Publishers have been very generous in donating some fabulous signed books and other goodies to help support this campaign. I'm sure you will find something you love! Café goodies and even a trip to a Sacred Site are offered...
Even if you can't donate at this time you can help us by passing along this Indiegogo campaign to others who might be interested in our project. Please tell everyone you know!
Your donation will help us not only build-out a café you will love, it will also go towards educating people about the benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet and show that gluten-free is delicious! We’ll introduce the concepts of raw foods and Ayurvedic eating, and consuming seasonal foods. This is our mission - it’s our dharma - to feed you mind, body and soul.
Namaste with love and gratitude,
Susan Weis-Bohlen
