- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Storyopolis
Category: Shopping Books, Mags, Music and Video Bookstores Bookstores
16740 Ventura BlvdEncino, CA 91436
Neighborhood: Encino
(818) 990-7600
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11 am - 5 pm
Sat 10 am - 5 pm
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
11 reviews for Storyopolis
11 reviews in English
-
Review from Aimee J.
Los Angeles, CA
4/29/2011
My awesome boss just had his second girl today. Since he has all the normal baby stuff, I wanted to get him something that both his 3 year old and his newborn would be able to share. The answer: books.
A friend of mine recommended Storyopolis. I was a little frustrated when I looked at the website (which is why I took away a star) because you can't actually view their book selection online.
However, when I called the store I talked to Courtney who was very helpful. I walked her through the situation. That I needed two individual gift baskets one for the three year old who loves elephants and one for the newborn who loves ?. She put together two great gift baskets that my boss loved.
I have a few other friends who are expecting right now and I will absolutely go to Storyopolis for presents. -
Review from stephy s.
San Francisco, CA
12/22/2007 1 photo
Kids. The final frontier.
I don't have any that I know about...although there were all those late drunken nights in Hollywood, so ya never know ;) Anyway, I don't have any youngsters, but I do know one thing about them and that's the importance of teaching them skills other than "How to mix Mommy a martini" or "Get Mommy the purse that matches her shoes." Granted those are very important things to send your kids out into the world with, but there are also things like literacy that are pretty damn important too.
With that said, I can't think of a cooler place to spend the afternoon with a future lil rockstar of society than Storyopolis. Hundreds of interesting books with great stories, awesome pictures and themes upon themes that pretty much blow away the 3 Bears and Humpty Dumpty stuff I grew up with.
It's awesome and with the live readings for the kids to enjoy, it's a prefect family affair. If I ever had one of those kid things, I would take the little thing here and get them started early to learn to right and reed guud english well jsut lyke mom :) -
Review from Maryanne R.
Cupertino, CA
5/7/2007
The shop is very inviting with open spaces and comfy furniture so that you can plop down and read to your kids. They have loads of activities and gallery shows, of which they keep you posted if you join their email list. The recommendations from the staff, of more obscure titles, have been big hits as gifts. They put together gorgeous, custom "book bushels" for your budget. The location is convenient and parking is usually not a problem.
All those nice things said, I must also report that I am very put off by the cashiers. Once, I can brush off. Twice, I start to get annoyed. But three transactions without any dialogue or eye contact from the person wringing up an $80 sale and I must say "So long Storyopolis. I can get any of this stuff on line my friends." -
Review from Dolly M.
Culver City, CA
4/6/2011
It's cute. The man who runs this place is really into it and has been around for years. Classic entertainment. No batteries or computer sounds, just imagination.
-
Review from Adam S.
New York, NY
12/4/2007
A super cool place to come and hang with the kids for a few hours...swing by around 11:30am on the weekdays, and check out "storytime"...on occasion, they have been known to have celebrities such as Jon Favreau who read Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg, perform the storytime event..just call ahead, or check the website for details. This place also has some great events on the weekends, which vary from autograph opportunities with big name illustrators such as Clive Barker or Dan Santat, to music time with "The BummKinn Band"
In addition to having a great selection of hard to find children's books and a helpful and knowledgeable staff, they have a great selection of artwork from various artists and illustrators. They have a large selection in the gallery as well as more pieces that can be special ordered. Some of the artist's whose work they feature are Tim Burton, Gary Baseman, Dr. Seuss, and Brom.
Also popular are the "Book Baskets", which are wonderful looking and beautifully prepared, usually come with a mix of books and stuffed animals in a large decorative basket. The "Baskets" are available pre-prepared in different themes or you can have them custom make one with any of the items available in the store. They range in price from about $30-$500+ and are a great gift for the right person, they can also be shipped worldwide!! -
Review from Michael S.
Santa Clarita, CA
10/28/2008
For my son's birthday this past August I promised him a shopping spree at Storyopolis. He was not pleased when we went there and it was closed for the move. We patiently waited and once we found out they were in their new place we zoomed over for some serious spree-ing.
The first thing you notice about the new place is the art gallery. The art gallery that takes up over half the store. Walking through the gallery you come to the books. The six or seven cases of books. To be fair we were told that more cases would be coming as they finished unpacking but I was wondering where they'd put them. Okay, who needs quantity when you have quality, right? My son does some digging and some asking he comes up with a (one) book.
This is the mighty Storyopolis that I had heard and read so much about? One book? This is the same child who, when we went to Books of Wonder in NYC this past summer, I had to restrain because he found so many books. They had a lot of books for early readers and they had stocked up on their "Twilight" books (yeah, because you can't find THOSE anyplace else...for your *teenager*) but my ten-year-old voracious reader only found one book.
All was not lost, though. I told my son that we would go to Once Upon a Time in Montrose and see if they had something he wanted. Had to restrain him there. -
Review from C L.
Valencia, CA
Updated - 8/13/2008
Whoohoo! Storyopolis was featured in the "Favorite Things!" issue of Los Angeles Magazine this month. I feel validated =)
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
7/5/2008
The Tin Man sculptures by Jim Bauer drew us into this place, but when we walked through the door, I… Read more »
-
-
Review from Amanda R.
Sherman Oaks, CA
6/22/2010
I keep going back because I WANT to like this place. It's close by and they have STORY TIME for my little one!!! Unfortunately, I always leave there feeling disappointed. There is a tiny selection of toddler board books and every time I go there, they seem too busy to care and unorganized. Also, the story time is pretty darn boring. PLEASE JAZZ IT UP A BIT!!!!!! At least READ the book with some fun voices or sounds or noises or something! The first time I was there, she tried to stop five minutes early and couldn't think of another song to sing, even though it's pretty easy to think up FIVE kid songs as a children's storyteller! Again, I really WANT to enjoy this place. PLEASE GET IT TOGETHER SO WE CAN COME BACK!!!
Good points: There are some pretty cute puppets and they do wrap gifts super cute:) -
Review from Carolyn S.
Glendale, CA
6/6/2009
A great place and resource for parents! It's moved around a bit and this new location is smaller then the last 2 however, it's still a good size. Lots of events and readings for kids. A must for Angeleno kids and parents ; )
-
Review from Deborah H.
Atlanta, GA
1/27/2011
I used to think this was the greatest children's bookstore in the world - so many signed books, illustrator's art work and loads of books for all ages. That's when they were on Robertson. They have since moved to Ventura. I hadn't been in town in a few years and made the trek up there. I have never been so disappointed - no autographed books, tiny space with very few titles, kind of dirty, no art work. How can a business have turned around so badly in a few years? My recommendation is don't go. The big chains will have a much better selection.
-
Review from sfactress s.
Los Angeles, CA
4/27/2009
amazing books for kids and super awesome staff especially Theresa and Courtney. They were soooo helpful!
