Author Alice Hoffman said it best: "Books may well be the only true magic."
Best friends Elizabeth Harrison and Selinna Maefau have known that to be true since they met when they were both 15.
In high school, Maefau often ditched her eighth-period class to visit Harrison in yearbook class. They would sit and read together, forming lifelong bonds and nurturing their love of literature, a mutual affinity that eventually blossomed into Kindred & Co., the duo's beautiful bookstore and bistro in Post Falls.
"We always joked about it," Harrison says. "But then the very real possibility presented itself, and it felt like a dream."
Both women were English literature majors in college and have a fondness for places to eat and drink great cups of coffee, so merging their love of literature and a good cafe seemed like a natural next step when deciding what to do after graduating from Western Washington University.
Kindred & Co. opened in March 2024 after more than four years of planning, a relocation to the area and various setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We kind of just grabbed it and jumped feet-first," Harrison says. "It worked with where we both were in our lives. We're very honored to be in Post Falls, and the community that we're finding has been great."
Visually, Kindred & Co. is a dark academia-lover's dream. The building itself is inspired by the European architecture Harrison and Maefau saw on international trips. With a curved glass facade and black metal contrasting the building's red brick exterior, Kindred & Co. stands out in the industrial area of Post Falls where it resides.
The bookstore features a plethora of books — so many that perusing the dark-stained, wooden shelves inside could take up an entire afternoon.
"We wanted to carry just about every genre," Maefau says. "We did some quick math in the beginning and found out that we can carry about 20,000 individual books."
Along with plenty of shelves, the store also has comfortable seating areas throughout, a lively bistro area with a full kitchen and coffee bar, as well as a retail area of unique gifts.
"We pulled from all of the beautiful things that we've seen all over the world," Maefau says. "We wanted it to feel Old World but still kind of contemporary. Elizabeth crushed just about every detail in this establishment. Like all of the light fixtures, the wallpaper and the literal material of all of the couches."
Both Maefau and Harrison wanted Kindred & Co. to feel like a third place for book lovers, somewhere they can come and comfortably hang out, connect and make new friends among fellow bookworms.
When naming the bookstore, the two women were very intentional about their choice, making sure it conveyed their vision perfectly.
"We tossed around a few names that had 'and company' in it, and I really liked that aspect because it felt like it gave us an umbrella," Harrison says. "And that also gives it a multi-meaning like, this is a place for people to meet and gather. We've got some big ideas still. We didn't want to be pigeonholed into just a bookstore. We want to have some options for the future."
"We talked a lot about community. We want to be able to do so many things in this space."
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Part of those plans include opening an upstairs sun parlor area as a fully functioning event space. The pair say that nothing is off the table when it comes to the conservatory.
"Christmas parties, birthday parties, baby showers," Harrison says. "We really hope somebody wants to get married in here one day."
"It's such a beautiful space," Maefau adds. "Once the patio is able to be open, it feels like it really needs a party all of the time."
Harrison and Maefau also have plans to host local and national authors at Kindred & Co.
"We have talked a lot about getting authors and their audiences in the same room together," Maefau says. "We talked a lot about community. We want to be able to do so many things in this space, and we built it that way so those things are possible."
"We both like to make people happy," Harrison says. "We hope Kindred does that for other people."
