An imaginative space that helps kids believe in stories – and themselves

On a rainy Saturday morning, 11 young teens gather inside a downtown store. It’s a spot-lit space with wooden floors and blackboard displays, but its wares are unconventional: goblin mucus soap, secret spell books, and sacks of mixed curses.

Welcome to Grimm & Co.’s Apothecary to the Magical, established in 1148 but until recently only visible to its exclusively immortal clientele.

There’s a fairy tale-writing desk, a meat cellar for dragons, and a bookshelf with bound volumes and potion blenders. On its bottom shelf is an inverted bottle that opens a secret door to a writers’ den for the Saturday morning club, whose members are waiting to go inside.

Before they can pass through the portal, however, Sarah Christie, a staffer, poses a question.

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