Storynest began in 2014 in a narrow Tiong Bahru shophouse, when our founder Clara Tan — a children's librarian and a mother of two — got tired of standing paralysed in big-box stores, unable to tell which brightly-jacketed book her child would actually love. She wanted somewhere small and warm where a real person had read the books and could simply say: try this one.
So that is what we built. Nothing reaches our shelves until a bookseller has read it through — usually out loud to a child first. We arrange the shop by reading stage as much as by age, because a confident four-year-old and a hesitant eight-year-old want very different books, and a shop worth its salt should know that.
Ten years on we have helped more than 24,000 books find new homes, and we still answer our own WhatsApp and still wrap every gift by hand. We keep a particularly proud corner for homegrown Singapore stories, in all four of our languages, because every child deserves to see their own street in a book.
What we promise every reader
the small things that make a good bookshop
The booksellers
the people who actually read them
A children's librarian for twelve years before opening the shop. Reads every new title before it goes on the shelf, usually to a borrowed child.
The one to ask when a child "doesn't like reading". Has matched a thousand reluctant readers with the book that finally clicked.
Hunts down local picture books and bilingual titles, and keeps the Mandarin, Malay and Tamil shelves quietly excellent.
Come and read before you buy
Both our shops have a reading nook where children are welcome to sit and try a book. No pressure — just good stories and a bookseller happy to help you find the right one.
- Storynest @ Tiong Bahru
- Storynest @ Katong
- Tue–Sun · 10am–7pm (closed Mondays)
- +65 8814 7723
