The Story

Hail and well met, readers, adventurers and storytellers! 

We're Side Quest Books & Games, a woman-owned, fantasy-inspired shop slinging books, role-playing games, small-batch gaming accessories and nerdy miscellany. We've been popping up around Somerville and the greater Boston area since the fall of 2023, and we're thrilled to be opening permanently at Bow Market in Union Square this fall! 

To us, stories are magic — no matter what form they take. Our favorites are ones that center marginalized voices, challenge the status quo, and have at least a little (or maybe a lot) of the fantastical and the unreal. Finding a community of folks in and around Somerville that feels the same way has been both humbling and validating, and we can't wait to co-create a space for community and adventure with all of you. It's gonna be, well, magic!

The opportunity to open a storefront in Bow Market — a vibrant community of vendors and entrepreneurs that we've been fans of for years — feels like an absolute dream. Designing and building out the space, stocking it with goodies, and hiring exceptional local folks to staff it will be no mean feat — but it's a quest we're so excited to embark on. And we couldn't ask for a better party of folks to journey with!

So come, join us! Adventure awaits...

More About Us

I'm using "us" and "we" a lot in this write-up, but in truth this whole harebrained idea has been mostly me.

Hi, I'm Caroline Sheridan: Union Square resident, toddler mom, woman-in-tech, wife of an astoundingly patient partner, and life-long fantasy lover. And that last part — being a life-long fantasy lover — hasn't always been the easiest.

I'm showing my age here, but back when I was in middle school and even high school, fantasy was still largely dominated by dudes — the authors, the protagonists, the readers, the game designers, and the players. Sure there were pockets of us non-conformists reading everyone from Octavia Butler to Ursula Le Guin; some of us even managed to find a D&D group that would let us join as something other than the healer or another character's/player's love interest. But it wasn't the norm. 

This shop — one where everyone can see themselves in a world of magic and wonder — is my dream. It's what I wish I'd had around as a kid. It's what I want to give to a community of fellow nerds who want to find each other — and most importantly, themselves — in something magical.

So thank you, thank you, thank you for being here. My inner kid is eternally grateful. 

The Quest & The Rewards

Nothing kills the adventuring spirit like worrying about the gold in your purse, so let us start by saying: our mission here is funded. We have enough in the bank to be able to open the store and support operations. But bringing our community into this with us will allow us to fully achieve the vision of what this space can really be (including having a super sweet gaming table for y'all to rent out!). 

Here's what we're aiming for:

$10,000: Primary Goal

• Prepping the space. Painting, adding a space divider for a storage area. ($2,000)
• Kitting out the space. Getting bookshelves, display items, and cozy seating, rugs and lights. ($7,000)
• Getting our operations in order. Ensure we have the best accounting software for our needs, and that it's set up to be sustainable. ($1,000)

$5,000: Stretch Goal

• THE GAMING TABLE. We have our sights set on The Jasper table from AllPlay. It seats 8, comes with magnetically-attached cupholders and dice trays, and looks sleek as heck. Add-ons, shipping and chairs comes to about $5k.

And here's what you'll get:

First off, contributing any amount automatically gets you into our loyalty program (and anything above $25 gets you starting credit in said program!). Other perks include a mix of digital and physical book and game recommendations and gifts, plus custom branded SQBG merch like d20s and fancy bookmarks. Higher levels include an invite to our soft launch party (happening at the end of August), and the highest levels — our Heroes and Champions of the Realm — will get lifetime discounts. Everyone, no matter the size of the contribution, will receive our undying, profound, and borderline embarrassing gratitude. 

Here's what comes with each level:

• High Five ($10): Virtual High-Five
• Loyalty Program Credit ($25): Loyalty Program Credit; Stickers
• Personalized Recommendation ($50): Loyalty Program Credit; Personalized Book/Game Rec (1); Stickers
• Book Rec + Bookmark ($100): Loyalty Program Credit; Personalized Book Recs (3); SQBG Leather Bookmark; Stickers
• Game Rec + D20 ($100): Loyalty Program Credit; Personalized Game Recs (3); SQBG Branded D20; Stickers
• The Book Lover ($150): Loyalty Program Credit; Personalized Gift w/ Note; Soft Launch Party Invite (+1!); SQBG Leather Bookmark
• The Game Lover ($150): Loyalty Program Credit; Personalized Game w/ Note; Soft Launch Party Invite (+1!); SQBG Branded D20
• The Dice Goblin ($150): Loyalty Program Credit; Personalized/Curated Dice Palette; Soft Launch Party Invite (+1!); SQBG Branded D20
• Champion of the Realm ($500): Loyalty Program Credit; "Wall of Fame" Display; Contribute to Staff Picks; One-Shot with Caroline; 1 Free Store Rental; Personalized Book/Game Gift; Soft Launch Party Invite (+1!); SQBG Merch Bundle; 5% Lifetime Discount
• Hero of the Realm ($1,000): Loyalty Program Credit; "Wall of Fame" Display; Contribute to Staff Picks; One-Shot with Caroline; 1 Free Store Rental; Personalized Book/Game Gift; Soft Launch Party Invite (+1!); SQBG Merch Bundle; 10% Lifetime Discount

Specifics about the perks:

• Custom branded SQBG d20 and leather bookmark
  We will be working with small businesses to create our custom branded merch. We're still vetting the final vendors, as we want to make extra sure that we're selecting the right creators for these items.
• Book/game recommendations and gifts
  Finding the perfect book or game for our customers is our favorite thing! Based on the tier you select, you'll either get a personalized note with recommendations, or we'll just full-on send you the book or game we think you'll love (with a note, of course. We love notes).
• Custom dice palette
  There's nothing like having a pool of dice that's thematically appropriate for the character you're playing. Tell us all about them — who they are, what powers they have, what they look like — and we'll curate a selection 20 dice for you.
• Invite to the soft launch party
  We'll be throwing an in-store party before the official opening, and we'd love for you to join us — with your +1! This will be a closed event with food and drink — and lots of big nerd energy — included.
• 1 free rental of the space
  Once we open, the shop will be available for private events — birthdays, nerd-themed parties, D&D sessions on the sweet gaming table, etc. At our higher fundraiser tiers, you'll be entitled to one free event rental of the space.
• Contribute to staff picks
  You love books and games as much as we do, and we want you have the chance to share that love! How you choose to share your recommendations is up to you: you can write up some "Side Quest Pick" cards for the shop, share a post or video on our social channels, or write a longer recommendation for our newsletter. 
• One shot with Caroline, owner of SQBG
  Join a table of other supporters for a private one-shot with Caroline! We can play whatever the group decides — D&D, Wanderhome, a strange mish-mash homebrew of systems, etc. This will be light-hearted, fun, chaotic, and a chance to meet some fellow enthusiasts. 
• "Wall of Fame" display
  We're thrilled to be co-creating this space with you, and we want you to feel that sense of shared ownership. What better way to do that than to have your name on the wall? We've got big plans for an accent wall in the shop, and that includes a space to highlight the generous folks who helped us reach our goals.
• Lifetime discounts
  These apply to any retail purchase you make at the shop — in-person to start, and then online (if/when we get there). It also applies to private rental of the shop.

The Vision

Perks are all well and good, but allow us to gush for a small moment about all the things we're so excited to bring to Bow Market, Somerville and beyond!

Our plans include hosting regular events like book clubs, RPG nights, and write-ins, but having a larger space all our own will also allow us to rent that space out to you — yes, you! — for your own events. Want to host your birthday party in a bookstore? Need a sweet gaming table in a private space for your monthly D&D sessions? Have a cool idea for a LARP game and need a thematically appropriate backdrop? We got you. 

We're also positively giddy about the chance to host different types of fantasy-inspired workshops. Leatherworking! Chainmail! Crocheting fantastical beasts! And of course more practical ones like how to decolonize your worldbuilding, writing circles, and more. 

Magic is for everyone. This space will be for everyone. We'll create it together into the fantastical world we've dreamed of, right in our back yard. 

The Big Bads, and How We'll Defeat Them

Opening up a storefront is no small challenge. A number of things could go wrong — and after all, we've never done this before. Our scariest enemies will take the form of unknowns, lack of experience, and, inevitably, bills (running a book/game shop is expensive!). But we have a lot of excellent people with invaluable experience in our corner, so we plan to make use of their time and talents as much as we possibly can. 

Here's what we're doing to ensure success:

• Trusting the experiments we've run so far. We ran about a dozen pop-up shop events, plus a 2-month stint in a small unit at Bow Market itself. We hosted a half-dozen workshops and classes. We listened to our customers and adjusted to what they were asking for. We got a solid baseline for what we can expect, financially. And we got used to the day-to-day operations of running a retail space, even one as unique as ours. We aren't going into this blind, and we feel extremely privileged to have been able to test out our concept in small, strategic ways over the past year.
• Integrating into, learning from and relying on the robust bookseller community in Somerville, Massachusetts and New England. We have strong relationships with established members of the community, and have already spent significant time learning from their hard-earned wisdom. We've joined the American Bookseller's Association, and will join up with the New England regional association as well. 
• Consulting with experts in areas that aren't our strong suit. All our degrees are in literature, so finances are our weak spot. We'll be consulting with a CPA to help us evaluate TurboTax vs. Wave, and to help us move to TurboTax if that's the platform we need for long-term sustainability and success. 
• Keeping costs low by relying on furniture and decor curation instead of purchasing items new. Piecing together a look from items thrifted from Facebook Marketplace is time-intensive but economical, and during our 2-month mini pop-up at Bow Market, we proved we could curate found items into an attractive storefront. (The exception here is, of course, the gaming table. It's too cool not to buy new.)

Other Ways You Can Help

We mentioned above that we'll be relying on curation for our display furniture and decor instead of buying things new. If you can't contribute to the fundraiser but have items to donate (or even a truck to help me pick things up), I'm all for it! This is going to be a community effort for real, and I'll take all the help I can get. 

If you're not in Somerville, even just a share to your social networks works wonders! Thank you so much for supporting and amplifying our nerdy shop and community.