Good afternoon!
I’m Allison Hill, CEO of ABA, and I’d like to welcome you to Children’s Institute 2025! Welcome to Portland! Happy Pride! I’m so happy to see all of you.
Many of you opened stores in the last year which is very exciting. One third of you have never been to an Institute before! And many of you are old pros who have already scouted out the galley room, the coffee shop, and the bar and probably triangulated the fastest route between them.
We’re thrilled you’re all here.
I want to share with you that we are gathered here on the traditional lands of the Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin, Molalla, and other Indigenous peoples who have made — and continue to make — their homes here.
We wanted to honor this land through our choice of venue — so we are here in the beautiful Oregon Convention Center which is recognized for its leadership in environmentally responsible practices — and we want to honor the presence, the histories, and the sovereignty of this land’s Indigenous communities by making a financial donation to the Native American Youth and Family Center here in Portland. We were particularly inspired by The Center’s core values — respect, balance, pride, kindness, community, and leadership. And we hope we honor their mission by making those the themes of our time together this week.
These values feel especially vital as we gather at a time when the world feels heavy, the headlines are relentless, and the headwinds you face in your businesses are fierce.
But being here together reminds us of something essential: you are not alone. You are part of something bigger. The work you do as independent booksellers is not just important — it is crucial.
You uplift diverse voices. You offer third places — safe spaces for dialogue, connection, and belonging. You defend the freedom to read. You stand against censorship. You champion ideas over ideology. You promote long-form reading in a world of sound bites and short-attention spans. And in doing so, you help protect fundamental rights, critical thinking, even democracy.
Everyone in this room knows that reading makes people more informed, more empathetic, and more engaged. When you put books into people’s hands, you all are cultivating informed, empathetic, and engaged citizens. And a functioning democracy depends on that. Your work could not be more vital right now.
To the children’s booksellers and bookstores here today: you have long been the heartbeat of this industry. You carry the beautiful responsibility of nurturing the next generation of readers, sharing books with them that help them become themselves and encourage them to dream — two necessary steps to them becoming the changemakers we desperately need.
For all of you, we hope this week affirms your work, strengthens your resolve, and reminds you of the deep joy and tremendous opportunity that lies in bookselling in these challenging times.
This week was made possible by many people and I’d like to take a moment to thank some of them now.
Thank you to our lead sponsor Ingram. We’re grateful for their ongoing support of both Winter Institute and Children’s Institute and their true partnership with the indies.
Thank you to the publishers who sponsor Children’s Institute and share their money but more importantly their books, editors, authors, illustrators, and sales reps with us.
Thank you to the authors and illustrators — you, of course, are our heroes and we’re honored to have you here with us.
Thank you to our many business partners here with us today and we hope you’ll visit all of them during the conference and learn more about the ways they can support your business. And if I may insert a special request here — please stop by the Batch booth in the vendor showcase area. Batch is a free platform that is a step toward transforming this industry — in the short-term by helping bookstores make paying publisher invoices more efficient, and in the long-term by making the returns process more efficient. And I know the industry joke — ask 100 independent booksellers their opinion, and you’ll get 101 opinions. But I think we can all agree on anything that makes this industry more efficient and stronger.
Thank you to the booksellers who invested in our industry and our community by participating on panels, facilitating idea exchanges, and sharing their experience and insights with all of us this week. We appreciate your generosity.
A huge thank you to the ABA staff. They are amazing. They have done amazing things to make this happen. They will be amazing all week. I appreciate you supporting them with your patience, your kindness, and your thanks.
And last but not least I want to thank all of you for taking time away from your bookstores, your people, your pets, your plants, your busy lives, and hopefully your worries, to be here in community and in celebration. That’s what Children’s Institute is about. And there is a lot to celebrate this week!