Kennewick Shop Aiming to Reopen

Three weeks after a downtown Kennewick fire shut its doors, Storytime Bookshop is trying to be back in business by Saturday, April 25, 2026, the date of National Independent Bookstore Day. The store’s owner said the comeback will start as a pop-up inside Discount Vac and Sew while the search for a permanent space continues. (newsbreak.com) (bookweb.org) The fire did not start in the bookstore. It started at neighboring El Tequilas in downtown Kennewick, and Storytime Bookshop was left with heavy smoke and water damage from the firefighting effort next door. (newsbreak.com) (keprtv.com) Kennewick fire officials have narrowed the fire’s origin to the rear of the restaurant building near an electrical panel, but they still have not announced a cause. Earlier updates said investigators were still working through the scene while power was being restored on West Kennewick Avenue. (newsbreak.com) (elkhornmediagroup.com) What kept the bookstore from disappearing with the damage was the speed of the local response. Neighbors offered donations, volunteers offered labor, and nearby businesses began organizing events and fundraising within days of the March fire. (newsbreak.com) (keprtv.com) One of those businesses was Rockabilly Roasting on West Kennewick Avenue, which scheduled free Storytime Bookshop community events after the fire. Another was Discount Vac and Sew, which is now giving the bookstore a temporary place to sell books while the damaged site stays closed. (keprtv.com) (newsbreak.com) That temporary setup matters because Storytime Bookshop is not just a retail storefront in downtown Kennewick. Its own website describes it as a children’s bookshop serving the Tri-Cities with bilingual options, which gives it a niche that is harder to replace than a general gift shop. (storytimebookshop.com) The downtown block matters too. The City of Kennewick describes downtown as a historic district and a state-designated creative arts district, which means a small children’s bookstore there is part of the area’s identity as much as its storefront inventory. (go2kennewick.com) Storytime Bookshop had already become established enough that Kennewick City Hall marked its November 21, 2025 ribbon cutting in a larger new space as “Kennewick’s Business of the Day.” Less than five months later, the store is rebuilding again, this time with borrowed floor space and community cash. (go2kennewick.com) (newsbreak.com) National Independent Bookstore Day is a one-day event run by the American Booksellers Association, and in 2026 it falls on April 25. If Storytime makes that date, the reopening will land on the biggest annual shopping day built specifically for stores like it. (bookweb.org) (shelf-awareness.com) So this is where the story stands on Friday, April 10, 2026: the original downtown location is still out of commission, the cause of the fire is still undetermined, and the bookstore is trying to turn a disaster from mid-March into a pop-up reopening two weeks from now. In a downtown fire, that is about as close as a small business gets to writing its next chapter before the smoke has fully cleared. (newsbreak.com) (elkhornmediagroup.com)