Turning a Passion for Children’s Literature into a Thriving Business
The Story Garden of Pinellas County
For one lifelong educator, a love of children’s books blossomed into a business that is now inspiring young readers across St. Petersburg. Megan Kotsko, owner of The Story Garden, opened her bookstore with a simple yet powerful mission: to provide children from birth through age 12 with a space to discover stories, creativity, and the joy of reading. The store carries a wide variety of fiction, nonfiction, art supplies, and activity books—everything connected to sparking imagination in children.
With more than 20 years of teaching kindergarten and first grade, Kotsko knew firsthand the magic of reading to children. After raising her own kids at home, she decided it was time to take a leap of faith and pursue her dream of owning a bookstore.
To bring her vision to life, Kotsko partnered with the Florida SBDC at Pinellas County Economic Development (PCED) and business consultant Debra Schweikowsky. Together, they worked on marketing strategies, financial planning, and securing the right permits.
“She [Debra Schweikosky] has been instrumental in just guiding us and holding our hand through anything related to opening this children’s bookstore. She has helped us looking at our financials. She has helped us as far as setting opening dates, just looking at all the fine details of what it takes to open a business. She helped us dig into the permits that we needed. She helped us find the license we needed to carry snacks and drinks,” Kotsko said.
Most importantly, Schweikowsky assisted in obtaining the loan that made the business possible. “Working with Deb, with the Florida SBDC, we were given her guidance and that helped us navigate the loan application process and helped us obtain our loan. And also she helped us with some resources to obtain a line of credit, which was very helpful when opening a new business,” Kotsko explained.
Today, The Story Garden is flourishing. Families stop by regularly for story time, and children leave with books and activities that nurture a lifelong love of learning. “I find a lot of success in being a part of children’s lives in the community and building literacy within our community. It’s just a joy to see them walk through the door and say, hi Miss Megan, or the parents tell me that they wanted to come to The Story Garden to find new books. So being a part of the community and, um, and helping children find their love for reading has been my biggest success so far,” Kotsko said with a smile.
Moving forward, the business owner plans to use the Florida SBDC at PCED for more guidance. “As we continue to grow with The Story Garden, we will certainly continue meeting with Deb. Working with the Florida SBDC was instrumental in launching us, and I think it is going to be a very valuable resource for me as I continue learning and growing as a small business,” Kotsko said.
As for advice to other small business owners, Kotsko offers this: “I would tell other small business owners to find their local person with the Florida SBDC immediately. The minute that I started meeting with Debra monthly, just kept me on track. It gave me focus points. In working with her, it told me the next steps that I needed to do to keep myself going.”
“It was just having this incredible resource, obviously low cost, as it was a free resource, which is incredible for us. But it was really just a nice reassurance every month and it kind of also gave me that accountability. I function much better when I have that accountability. So, meeting with Deb kept us on track and it helped us meet our goals and our deadlines in order to open our doors,” she added.
The Story Garden is a reminder that with dedication and a great support system, a beautiful story can be written.
