The Art of Business

Raising Children Bookstore

By Josh Ripps

JSeven years ago Brian Donoghue and Gary Heckel-man opened Mental Health Resources, in Saugerties, which recently spawned two retail bookshops in the same town.

“The families have been asking us to do this for some time,” said Donoghue of Raising Children Bookstore and The Inquiring Mind Bookstore. “We used to have people knock on our doors at the warehouse at night.”

That warehouse is the home of Mental Health Resources, a book wholesaler that specializes in topics from domestic violence and rape crisis to children’s mental disabilities, and supplies books for more than 150 conferences throughout the country each year, including, most recently, “Building Our Future,” in Miami, and “Learning and the Brain,” in Massachusetts.

But despite that popularity, Mental Health Resources was no real benefit to the people of Saugerties—because it wasn’t open to the public. So Donoghue and Heckelman decided to open two retail shops, Raising Children Bookstore and The Inquiring Mind Bookstore.

Raising Children Bookstore, which opened in late September, carries, for instance, books on sharing, conflict resolution and fetal alcohol syndrome, and has the most extensive selection of books on autism and Asperger’s Syndrome in the country.

“It’s a great thing to recommend a book for people and [have] them coming back and saying, ‘That book really changed my life’,” said Donoghue, who also directs his customers to organizations that deal with the particular issue they’re interested in. “We try to provide tools for things that come up in life.” One of those tools they provide is a free video library. Topics in the library range from ADD to divorce to psychodrama to attachment disorders. “I mean, you name it,” he said. In addition, the store will host various presentations for parents.
The Inquiring Mind Bookstore is scheduled to open early this month. It will carry books focused on mental help, self help, the arts and creativity. “I’ve always loved books and always wanted a bookstore,” said Donoghue. “I think this is a unique way.” Heckelman agrees, “Oh, it’s extremely exciting for people in the immediate and the larger community to have a place where they can come for the most recent resources relating to child and adult mental health,” he said, “especially giving the troubling times we’re experiencing.”

Raising Children Bookstore is located at 200 Main St., Saugerties, and is on the Web at www.raisingchildrenbookstore.com. The Inquiring Mind Bookstore is located at 65 Partition St., Saugerties. Both stores can be reached at 246-5155.