We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rachel Trignano. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rachel below.

Rachel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My mother and grandparents read to me pretty much as often as I asked them to — even if it was the same story, over and over again. I’m forever grateful for it.

I loved reading and drawing, and my mother was a huge source of encouragement for both. (It doesn’t hurt that she’s a reader, too.)

Before I started kindergarten, my mom took my sister and me to our local library at least once a week. We’d leave with an armload, return with an armload, and repeat. I was reading by myself by the time I was three, due in part to my love for reading and in part to my mom creating a perfect environment for it: lots of stories, lots of reading together.

Stories and illustrations have always been a great source of joy for me. Not so much escaping, as exploring. People just make these things up! And then they invite us in! That’s incredible. What a gift.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started Lucky Duck Book Shop, a roaming children’s book shop, here in Tacoma, WA, in 2022. It had been an idea for much longer than — at least 5 years.

I’ve been in marketing for about 15 years, and some years ago, I realized this would be my natural next step.

It’s not a departure from anything. It’s more of a continuation, of lots of things.

For one, I’ve been publishing, performing, and producing literary events and pieces for about 10 years. I also ran a literary magazine with some old chums in Atlanta for a number of years. So I’ve been lovingly immersed in the story and book world for a long time.

A very long time, actually — since I was a baby, I wanted to hear and later read unlimited stories. Unlimited pictures. I wanted to laugh and imagine and learn and look at beautiful or fascinating things. Children’s books are great for that!

The concept for the shop was born from that love of what children’s books create in this world (other worlds), and also that I wanted to create a wild space that houses these wild spaces.

Hopefully, not too long from now, I’ll be able to open a brick & mortar shop that’s as much a storybook as the books themselves are. A space that’s full of surprises and bizarre sights, with plenty of books and nooks to get lost in.

What tickles me is that I’m a fourth-generation shop owner. (Even if mine is mobile for now.) My great-grandparents emigrated to the U.S. and opened a general store in Newark that became a very strange, shabby toy store run by my grandfather after WWII. My parents had a brief foray into retail, too. I think this one will last.

And I think it will last, because all I want is for everyone to have the most possible fun. That’s it. No need to overcomplicate it. Create a great, memorable experience: see weird things, have fun, and find new stories (in books or your own life).

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Well, you may recall that 2020 was a bit of a rough year, right? I played pandemic bingo with everyone else: got laid off, had a big health scare, and so on. I was able to pick up freelancing work pretty quickly, but also put everything on the table. What did I really want to do? What was next for me?

I knew it was the book shop. I think everything being so unpredictable and up in the air fed the “now or never” feeling. Despite the pandemic being in full swing, I applied for Spaceworks, our Chamber of Commerce’s small business incubator. It was November of 2020. I was accepted (I’m still thrilled about that) and joined the winter 2021 cohort.

I worked hard to refine the concept of the shop into a marketable concept and developed a business plan, too. It was exactly the right kind of intensive challenge, run by extraordinarily helpful, experienced, and kind professionals.

The pandemic definitely slowed down my timelines — I thought I’d be in a brick & mortar by now! But I’ve used the time instead to study, learn, apply for more incubators/grants, and participate in *way* more pop-ups than I’d originally expected.

Having the bookshop to build up was a huge motivator throughout this whole time. I’ve often joked that I stumbled into an unexpectedly healing profession: Today’s children’s books are fantastic at conveying messages of grace, self-compassion, curiosity, and — yes — resilience, too.

When you look at the occasional hiccups — the days sales stink, you don’t make back your vendor fee — it always helps to zoom out and look at everything that’s worked really well. Those successes always outweigh the setbacks.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

For my shop, it’s about creating a genuine connection with the people who stop by — because businesses don’t build their reputations, customers do.

I’m grateful for everyone who stops to say hi. They don’t have to do that. I don’t rush them. Books are for browsing. A lot of folks are rediscovering old favorites or delighting in new finds. (Children’s books are delightful.) Let them be, and when they’re ready to chat, that’s when I offer to make suggestions. That’s a great opportunity to listen, learn, and help.

When I can, I’ll mention my online shop and offer in earnest to help people find specific books or types of books they may be interested. I’ll encourage them to DM me on Instagram or email me if they’d like recommendations. And if they suggest books to add to my online shop, I do. Then they get a Lucky Duck postcard with an encouragement to drop a note to someone and say hi. I give these away instead of bookmarks. I print secret messages on my business cards and give away candy, too. Little ones play with the sequins on my tablecloth while I make recommendations to their grown-ups.

My pop-up setup is silly and vivid and makes people laugh. Good! I call my pop-ups “Pop-Pop” book shops after my grandfather Walter (aka Pop-Pop) who ran a small, strange toy store in Newark. I want things to pop and sparkle. (Walter was not sparkly.)

People walk away from the shop smiling, and that feels great. If I made my sales goal for the day and no one smiled or seemed to enjoy their experience, that wouldn’t feel like success. Those are just transactions. I want people to walk away from Lucky Duck Book Shop feeling like they just had a heck of a lot of fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.luckyduckbookshop.com
• Instagram: @luckyduckbookshop
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luckyduckbookshoptacoma
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/racheltrignano/

Image Credits
Story time images (1 and 2) photo credit @intentional.images253 All other image credits Lucky Duck Book Shop