Once Upon A Time

I go here all the time for birthday presents for children. All I do is tell the owner the gender/​age of the child and they pick a PERFECT present in my price range. They also gift wrap it beautifully for free. Makes my life so easy!

Love this bookstore and have been shopping there for more than 30 years. They have children’s books in Spanish as well as English, and customer service is excellent. When Jane, who opened the bookstore in the ’60’s, sold the store to Maureen 12
years ago, she did us all a service in finding someone as enthusiastic about books as she was.

I just love this shop! It has a wonderful selection of children’s books. It’s great for gifts since they will even wrap them for you. They have such awesome wrapping too… just got a gift recently and picked cute hedgehog paper. I have often bought books with matching animal puppets for my little one. Very unique items in this shop… recently discovered to most incredible pop up books on a shelf. The autographed books are my favorite and the customer service is great! Oh, and they have a rewards program… I can’t remember but I believe if you spend $ 200, you get a $ 20 credit. I just recently reached mine and was able to use the $ 20 to buy something for myself.

I am in love with this bookstore!
Tonight when I walked in for the first time, just to browse, I was greeted by the shopowner (I assume) along with people who work/​volunteer there. They welcomed my friend and I in like we were all old friends, and their kindness and cheerfulness was infectious. We were asked to stay for storytime so we did.
A young woman played guitar and read childrens’ books, and I have to say the experience was magical. When I left the store, I felt like I was floating on this cloud of both nostalgia and happiness and I loved it. The experience reminded me of what it felt like to read books and go to the bookstore when I was a kid. It’s a great feeling.
I was honestly charmed by this place, and I cannot wait to go back.
Support independent bookstores! They amaze you and surprise you ;)

Being obsessed with books means that bookstores draw me in like a moth to a bright light. It doesn’t matter whether it is a chain store or local, new or used. It also doesn’t matter if it is an children’s bookstore while I am an adult (even though I don’t have children!). Heck, I’m hard-​pressed to resist a Christian Science Reading Room merely because it has ‘reading’ in the title! Once Upon A Time is a children’s bookstore (the oldest in the nation, it claims); located in the Montrose Shopping Park. Naturally, I was pulled inside with a force beyond my strength to resist…
Once Upon A Time is a quaint, charming, local shop which exudes fresh white energy and a sort of cottage-​type feel. Instead of bombarding children and parents with overdone whimsical animals or characters; Once Upon A Time feels more mature like a gift shop foregoing the Fischer-​Price mold. This allows patrons of any age to feel comfortable throughout the store.
What does Once Upon A Time offer? Naturally the main focus are books and Once Upon A Time divides the stock per age group from picture books to Young Adult. Within these delineations; shelves are further compartmentalized based on topic (such as mystery, science, poetry, etc). There aren’t any large signs, however, so it is best to just browse and look around to find what you seek. In addition to books, Once Upon A Time sells journals, sketchbooks, book marks, erasers, stuffed animals (characters from specific books), dolls, and other child-​inspired tidbits. Watch the prices though: they are a little bit high.
The coolest addition? In the back of the store, there is a USPS-​official display selling parcel boxes and packages. You can buy a book, stuffed animal, AND a box to ship it in, at Once Upon A Time!
Sadly, customer service is Once Upon A Time’s biggest pitfall. Perhaps it was just my visit as the shop seems to have positive reviews; but I did not feel welcome. There was one male on duty and he did not welcome us into the store or ask if we needed help (was it because we didn’t have children with us and we were two adults?). I went to look at the revolving bookmark display on the counter and his fast-​food container was blocking it (unprofessional). Granted, he moved it but still did not strike up a conversation until we were walking out the door and THEN asked if we were looking for anything in particular. Too little, too late, buddy! Definitely not the type of local, neighborhood customer service one would expect.
Once Upon A Time supplements store products by holding multiple store events and author signings per month. Although I have not attended one so I can not vouch for them; the website’s calendar appears to be packed so it is something worth checking out if your child is into that sort of thing.
Once Upon A Time is unique in that it caters specifically to children and preteens in a friendly but not overly-​dummied down environment. The shop is worth visiting when searching for a book and small gift but I would definitely suggest a lesson in customer service for the staff. Once Upon a Time is not bad but also won’t blow you away.

Well this is my first official review for 2015! I know. i KNOW… yikes!
But there is no better way I could think of starting off this new year than giving a shout out to the cutest childrens bookstore Ive ever seen!
So my home was recently getting some construction done and the noise was was too loud for the little one so I decided to pack him up and take him out on a day trip to Descano Gardens! When we took a lunch break, I wanted to hit up a bookstore for a nice change of scenery and thanks to my trusty Unilocal app, I came upon this darling store.
Located in a strip mall in charming Montrose Village, you’ll swear you’ve stepped back in time. There are so many mom-​and-​pop stores it was actually quite refreshing!
As soon as I walked in– I was warmly greeted by the staff and lead to the board book section for babies. And I was even given a few great recommendations! I just love how they welcome customers to relax, pull up a chair and actually read the books. Sure, the same would be said of bigger bookstores but I love supporting local businesses so this place was perfect!
Should you ever find yourself to be in montrose, do yourself a favor and check this place out! Five stars.

Everything a small privately owned indeoebdant book store should be! Great selection, excellent customer service, funky merchandise — great!
If you’re not a reader you should be — so check out this place!

Wonderful bookstore, helpful staff, great selection.

Hands down, my favorite bookstore! This charming bookstore on the wonderful Honolulu Street is worth a drive. Smart booksellers who know and love books, The place for children’s and YA books, but now they also have a selection of top books for adults to the left and right as you enter. Great gifts — I’ve bought some fun stationary items, puppets, baby gifts, perfect holiday gifts and stocking stuffers. They do lots of special free events for kids. And they’ll order a book if they don’t have it. Park in the large lot (enter between the Black Cow and an Italian restaurant) or bring dimes for the meters because you’ll spend more time in here than you imagined. Yeah, I love this place.

Adorable, quirky little bookstore with very friendly, knowledgeable staff. They host a lot of fun events for kids including author visits with book signings. I would highly recommend stopping by if you’re in town :)

Absolutely a gem! Best children’s bookshop in Los Angeles, maybe the world. Staff is super helpful & friendly, plus they have frequently host booksignings (with big names!) and sell many autographed books. Also, you can order books on their website & pick up in store. Take that, Amazon!
Also, there is a huge free parking lot very close by, on Florencita (behind the Black Cow).

Once Upon A Time has easily become my favorite bookstore, ever! I live in Orange County and I made a more than an hour away trip to Montrose just because of the amazing things I’ve heard about the children’s section!
I did not leave disappointed but I did leave with a rather large box and 2 bags of books. After an hour of perusing through their children’s section, I left with more than $ 600 worth of children’s books. Crazy? Probably. But honestly, you don’t find these types of children’s books at Barnes and Nobles! I mean, I suppose you can on Amazon, but it’s not the same experience with your child.
I was specifically interested in multicultural, inspirational, motivational and easy read type of books for children. I was so damn impressed with their selection that I honestly could not help myself! Ignorantly brainwashed by all the commercialized stories, I didn’t know these books for children existed in abundance.
If only I lived closer, I would be here pretty often with my daughter. They have such amazing customer service and I’m so grateful for Morgan’s help while I was there!
They also have a frequent buyer’s reward program & for every $ 200 you spend, you get a $ 20 credit towards your next purchase! And Morgan informed me that they are also the oldest children’s bookstore around!

Once Upon A Time has a great selection and it’s new location in between all the restaurants is even better than it’s old one across the street. The sales staff is very helpful and I’ve been getting great recommendations for presents for others and books for myself there for years.

I love this bookstore! The staff is incredibly helpful and friendly and there is even a kid’s play area where your kids can play while you shop for books. They will help you find the perfect book for kids on your list. It is also on a really cute street in Montrose and well worth the drive. They also have great author appearances and events. So much more fun than shopping on Amazon!

Charming, little bookstore in charming little Montrose Village. The decorations & book displays tend toward the younger set, as it should be. It’s good to get young children hooked onto books as soon as possible if only initially to look at the pictures. Acquiring reading skills early may be a good indicator of success in school & later success in life. So it is understandable that Once Upon a Time would want to emphasize books for the young.
However, I found plenty of books that were appealing. History, cuisine, cultures, science particularly interest me. I looked in their small but extensive Cooking section & found two books much to my liking: «Food in History», and «On Food & Cooking: The Science & Lore of the Kitchen». Both are great books. One touches on food & history of various cultures through the ages. The other explains why or how physics & chemistry affects the cooking process in order to improve on the techniques to make a better meal.
The staff is helpful & friendly. Once Upon a Time is a good addition to the «mom & pop stores» that inhabit this delightful, comely village. For the most part, unlike Old Town Pasadena, Montrose Village has not succumbed to the big, bad chain stores & boutiques that suck the profit away from the community they are selling. The «mom & pops» usually live in or near the community so money tends to circulate in the community as well as more community service & donations to the community occur.
Definitely 4+ Unilocal stars to Once Upon a Time. May you be with us a long, long time.

I remember these guys back in the day when they were at the corner. They have a great selection of kids books at fair prices. I can’t wait to bring my little rugrat here and let her pick a book or two. Books are sooo much better than ebooks.

On a hot, Sunday afternoon, my two-​year-​old twins and I sought refuge in this bookstore and found it! They have a pretty decent supply of children’s books and toys, but I would recommend coming to this place for browsing and exploring, and not necessarily to seek out a specific book. The shelves weren’t sorted in an intuitive manner, and I am a huge reader and bookstore/​library fiend, so that made it difficult for me to find something to purchase. Since my twins were running around towing toys along, I didn’t have time to really settle in and browse, but during the times I looked it was kind of hard to find the classics that I wanted to add to their collection.
However, the store employees and all the customers were very permissive of my children running around and playing with the display toys and board books. They loved roaming through the shelves and looking at things here and there. They aren’t destructive, but sometimes they like to grab and inspect new things, and even touching is looked down upon at retailers. I didn’t get that feeling in the slightest here.
Caveat: I don’t really know what prices are like here since I didn’t purchase anything, and I also did not have time to investigate that, so you should see other reviews for that detail.

I love this little book store they have so many cute children’s books here. They also carry great gifts to buy and they have been there for many years. It is very well organized and has many classic books that you might not find at the larger book stores and there is outdoor seating too which is nice. There are also a few restaurants all along the side of the street and you can walk further down to the other shops and you will find many things to do in this nice shopping district.

Cute as a button children’s bookstore, with very nice service! I overheard this bookstore is over 45 years old, the oldest children’s bookstore in the country. If true, wow.
Great little street it’s on, too… with nice restaurants, outdoor seating, and other shops to peak into, or do some damage to your wallet.