Cozy warm lighting illuminates those who trickle into the whimsical shop. A room comes to life as creative kindred spirits enter the space. People of all walks of life wander in looking to find their favorite book or hoping to pick up a new read. Regardless, all who step through the doors of The Hidden Chapter Bookstore become one and the same.

Dave and Lacey Mulcahy, owners of The Hidden Chapter Bookstore, opened their doors to the Fort Thomas community in October 2023 and their new addition cafe opened last February, offering a cafe and bar menu. Their store came to fruition off a wild idea. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Mulcahys, like everyone, were cooped up in their home with nothing to do but daydream. They bounced around the idea of picking up the hundreds of books laying around their house and putting them up on shelves for others to explore. 

“We would talk about having a bookstore with no expectation of actually being able to afford to open one, or know how to do it. And so we would just start building this imaginary bookstore,” Dave Mulcahy said. 

The dream would turn into a reality, but not without hard work, passion and perseverance. During their planning process, reality hit hard. The economy began to tank. It started to look like they would bottom out, then came the doubts and setbacks.

“We were honestly afraid to even talk about it in a real way, because we didn’t know how much effort to invest and then we didn’t know how. We kind of felt silly,” he said. “We don’t have degrees in business. We’ve never done this before, and we were tentative because we were afraid that we were just talking about something that we couldn’t do.”

Even with their doubts, the couple realized this was something that was important to both of them and they refused to give up on their dream. 

“We got to a point where we both ignored that, if we were going to watch our retirement disappear, it’s going to disappear because we pulled the trigger on a dream, and whether that dream succeeded or failed, at least we tried instead of just watching it dissipate,” Dave Mulcahy said. 

While they were feeling discouraged but still hanging on to hope, a space became available in Fort Thomas. The perfect place for their bookstore. The Mulcahys secured the spot at 118 N. Fort Thomas Ave. within two months. 

 “Well, our pipe dream conversations went from pipe dream conversations [and] turned into kind of real conversations,” Dave Mulcahy said. 

The book enthusiasts finally started to build off their vision. 

One thing the Mulcahys focus on is their commitment to accessibility. Because 80% of the books sold are used, the store is able to offer more affordable prices. Growing up, Dave and Lacey Mulcahy came from low income households. Access to basic necessities was not always promised. 

“I think that growing up with some hardship and my hardship, she shares,” Dave Mulcahy said. “We wanted to make anything that we created accessible to every single household.”

His father is a first generation Northern Kentucky University graduate, so Dave Mulcahy has a special tie to the university. Throughout his adolescence he saw his father navigate through his academic journey. In some instances, Dave Mulcahy would be on campus with his father since childcare was not always an option for them. 

He too went on to attend NKU for two years before transferring to Xavier University to pursue a major in Classics (Greek and Roman history and languages) because, at the time, NKU did not offer those classes. He graduated Xavier with a bachelor’s in electronic media with a focus in film. 

With a tie to NKU, Dave Mulcahy was thrilled when the university’s Loch Norse Creative Writing Club reached out to him asking if The Hidden Chapter Bookstore would host its first open mic night event of the semester. 

With this agreement, NKU’s Loch Norse Creative Writing Club partnered with The Hidden Chapter Bookstore on Feb. 17, for a night of poetry. Students, faculty and community members gathered to listen to featured guest author Jeannie Vanasco, a renowned memoirist read excerpts from her book, “A Silent Treatment.” Afterwards, participants who signed up for the open mic slots went up and read their creative pieces out loud to the room. 

“Open mic, like that is so intimidating, but just seeing like these students who may be a little more shy, the fact that they were able to come into this space feel welcomed and vulnerable, to step up in front of, you know, this power room and share, I think that is really powerful thing,” Lacey Mulcahy said. 

The Hidden Chapter Bookstore offers multiple events. On the last Tuesday of each month it has a poetry reading where people can step into a judgement free space and read their poetry. It also hosts bookclubs, Dungeons and Dragons nights and more.

Though this was their first time hosting Loch Norse’s open mic, they were thrilled to contribute to the magic these events offer. They encourage all who entered their store to embrace themselves and their creativity, presenting the bookstore as a place without judgment. 

As the mic opened for participants to step up, Dave Mulcahy reiterated that message.

“Everyone and anyone is welcome, only thing we don’t have room in here for is hate,” he said.

The Hidden Chapter Bookstore is a sanctuary that gives people a place to openly express their creativity and connect with other emotionally intelligent minds, he said. The Mulcahys’ main goal is to foster a community centered around people’s love for books.  

“We just want to try to build more of a community, especially within the book community,” Lacey Malcahy said. “I’m a really big introvert, but since we’ve opened this I found more of my people than I’ve ever found in my entire life.” 

The Hidden Chapter Bookstore aims to have something to offer everyone.

“That’s the main thing that we want out of all of this is a place for people to come, be able to be themselves and feel good about being themselves,” Lacey Mulcahy said.