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Note: Hill’s Bookstore will celebrate its Grand Opening on Saturday, Feb. 15.
At 34-years-old, Kimberly Hill has already experienced a lifetime of adventure.
The Hollister resident has served two deployments with the United States Navy, braved the hospital corridors as a nurse practitioner during the COVID-19 pandemic, and just completed her masters degree in nursing last year while raising two young children with her husband, Adam.
“We love to travel and we love adventure,” Hill said of her family, while showing her latest venture to BenitoLink. “And obviously you see that here.”
Hill’s new venture, Hill’s Bookstore, opened its doors on Saturday at 650 San Benito Street in downtown Hollister. It’s an enterprise that Hill said she felt was lacking in the county.
“You can get books at Target, but we really wanted to have a good diverse selection and have things that kind of uphold,” she said. “A little bit of something for everybody, so that everybody can feel welcome.”
She decided to take on the project a little more than a year ago, when she began reaching out to local businesses asking if any would want to host her new bookstore. Hollister’s Ohana Shaved Ice owners, Peter and Karina Hernandez, were happy to help.
“I set up in their parklet outside and I brought like 120 books and I was very nervous—I was blown away,” Hill said. “That weekend, I did a Saturday and Sunday and I sold, I think 85% of the inventory that I brought with me. That was in February of 2024.”
As a business owner, Peter Hernandez said, it was important to him and Karina to support Hill.
“We want other businesses to have that same opportunity [as we did],” he said. “So once we saw that opportunity, my wife reached out and said, ‘Hey, if we can help you, we’d love to open up that door.’”
Local coffee shops—Vertigo Coffee in San Juan Bautista and Calavera Coffee in Hollister—also opened their doors for Hill last year, and she also participated in last year’s Hollister Farmers Market. She said she’s done “just anything that we could get our hands on to get our name out there.”
Now, a year after she first began, her own brick-and-mortar store is ready to open, with a little bit of everything for book-lovers and gift-shoppers, alike.
Already on the shelves are featured books in such genres as children, young adult, romance, science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, thrillers, and nonfiction, as well as unique games and puzzles. There’s also a children’s play area (for parents who want to peruse the inventory without interruption), a self-serve tea station, and a cozy room for the romance section.
“We want to be a place where we can just kind of set aside everything else and come here to congregate over our love of books,” Hill said.
While she anticipates locals will learn about the store through social media or word of mouth, she is hoping to catch the passersby on San Benito Street who get a glimpse of her fantastical touches by peeking into the store’s windows. At the store’s entrance, hot air balloons, dragons, puffy clouds and enchanting lights hang from overhead—all bringing imaginary worlds to the customers of Hill’s Bookstore.
Weekday customers will also get a glimpse of Adam Hill running the store. Kimberly said his “is the face that you’ll see probably the most during the week,” while she works as a nurse practitioner—she plans to run the store on weekends.
Adam said it’s a shift he was ready to take— it also allows him to concentrate on his online 3D—printing business.
“As difficult as it is to leave a great career, the choice was clear,” he said. “It was time to take the gamble and invest in ourselves and our community. She’s sacrificed so much for me in the past and now this is my chance to sacrifice for her.”
It’s a sacrifice that Kimberly Hill does not take lightly, as she considers this new business an asset for the local community.
“We’re not just a retail space, we are a service,” she said. “Our service is that we curate and we recommend. So it does take a lot of time, and it’s a process that’s ever changing.”
Hill’s Bookstore will be open Tuesdays through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The public is invited to its grand opening on Feb.15.
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