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

GENEVA – Harvey’s Tales – Books and Other Diversions, at 216 James St., Geneva, is celebrating its fifth anniversary from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday with activities and prizes.

Owners Chuck and Roxanne Osborne opened Oct. 1, 2018, followed by a grand opening two weeks later. 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 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 as well as spin-the-wheel prizes.

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

The five-year anniversary celebration will also feature an area where children can create the “Very Hungry Caterpillar.”

Kristen Cornelio, the Harvey’s Tales social media coordinator, said the business has 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.”