Geneva's Harvey's Tales book shop celebrates 5 years in business

Harvey's Tales Books and Other Diversions in downtown Geneva will celebrate its fifth anniversary with activities and prizes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Owners Chuck and Roxanne Osborne opened the shop at 216 James St. on Oct. 1, 2018. They named the store after their beloved Bernese mountain dog, Harvey, who passed away the year before.

"The first person who buys five books gets a prize," Chuck Osborne said of Saturday's celebration. "The first customer wearing a Harvey's Tales T-shirt will get a prize. We'll have five-year anniversary shirts and bags of anniversary blend coffee for sale."

Keeping with the theme of five for its five years in business will be hourly door prizes on the five of every hour and spin-the-wheel prizes.

"The spin-the-wheel gives discounts on purchases, free books, arts and galleys prereleased from publishers, tote bags," Chuck Osborne said. "Publishers came through for us with books and journals, stuff for kids like stickers."

The fifth-anniversary celebration will also feature an area where children can create the "Very Hungry Caterpillar."

Kristen Cornelio, Harvey's Tales social media coordinator, said the business ordered more than 79,000 books in the last five years and hosted 68 local authors.

"The book club meets every other month, and they read 24 books," Cornelio said. "They have awarded $6,000 total in scholarships to 10 Geneva High School seniors - two a year for five years."

And the store survived the COVID-19 pandemic by setting up personal times for shopping and offering touch-free porch pickup, Cornelio said.

"They've gotten two other dogs since Harvey - Hazel and Howard - both Bernese mountain dogs," Cornelio said. "They named the children's room after Hazel. They sell plush little dogs that resemble Hazel and Howard and have sold 547 of them to date."