Parents will love bookstore for kids Guarantee it. You‘ll be so engrossed in the nostalgia of Dr. Seuss books you thought they‘d stopped printing, and in the delightâ€" ful story of Roarasaurus, and in the classics like Little Women, you won‘t even notice little hands tugâ€" ging at your sleeve and tiny voices saying, ‘Mom, the store‘s closing.‘ on‘t be surprised if, upon _} your first visit to Smithkids â€"A4 at Oakville Town Centre II, it‘s you, the stressedâ€"out, alwaysâ€"inâ€" aâ€"rush parent, that doesn‘t want to leave the store. By KATHY YANCHUS Oakville Beaver Staff Free Audiocassette! Rising interest rates are creating a lot of interest in buying bonds. Be an informed investor. Burns Fry‘s Chief Economist, Dr. Sherry Cooper outlines eight key ingredients for success when investing for interest. Call Pamela Turnbull i 4163594771 Smithkids is an enchanting new taurant Poll "Oakville is such a fantastic community for kids‘ enterprises," said Menchinton, who has been in the book retail business for more than 12 years beginning with her mother‘s used book store in It‘s evident from the moment you walk in the store and it‘s not just in the posters on the walls or in the large purple dinosaur cutout (guess who?) or even in the thouâ€" sands and thousands of childrens‘ titles which stare up at you from neatly stacked aisles. It‘s in the chatter and laughter of children, not unusual in a store, but not always favorably received. At Smithkids, kids is what it‘s all about. It‘s a concept that "has been kicking around the company" for quite some time, according to Susan Menchinton, the store‘s personable manager. Within some of the larger Smithbooks stores, there have been small versions of Smithkids in operâ€" ation but when the spacious location opened up at Town Centre, Smithbooks took the plunge. experiment in retail intiated by Smithbooks (formerly WH Smith) focusing on, as the name implies, little people. The philosophy behind the conâ€" cept is that Smithkids become much more than a bookstore, that it be an allâ€"encompassing learning resource centre, and Smithkids hopes to ensure that happening with its careâ€" fully selected inventory and its meticuslously chosen staff. Three employees were plucked from the company to provide the store with retail and book knowledgeable peoâ€" ple, and three employees were selected from the community. One is a woman who‘s in the midst of earning her Early Childhood Education diploma, another is a mother of two boys and the third, a grandmother who has tutored and worked with the Peel Literacy Council. "We wanted people who were comfortable with kids, and had an "You see small independent ones and they do a very good job, but they can‘t offer the breadth of stock we do because we‘re a chain," she says. Large children‘s bookstores are a rare thing says Menchinton mainly because of a lack of resources. Newfoundland and most recently managing the Yorkdale Mall store. (See ‘Smithkids‘ page 27) FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 1994 PAGE 26 The staff of Smithkids, at Oakville Town Centre II, (left to right) John Scallen, manager Susan Menchinton, and Evelyn Johnston, are getting ready for the store‘s grand opening this weekend. (Photo by Peter McCusker) *rates subject to change â€" FREE CONSULTATION â€" CALL BEV RRIF‘s MUTUAL FUNDS