At Riley's Reads, we believe that is crucial for children to learn how to love reading and see it as more than just more homework from school.

With firm convictions on how to do this, the store began construction at 29 Main Street in Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard in May 2004, and had its grand opening two months later on July 1st, 2004.

We have had our ups and downs-- a flood in January 2005 nearly destroyed us, but through it all, our customers' dedication to the store and the books we love have made Riley's Reads the island's best resource for you and our child's every book need. Come on down, grab a book, and introduce yourself to Riley, the dog that inspires us all to read more!

The store was started by Zoe Pechter and Peter Economou, who has since left the bookstore to run his own shop around the corner, Icon Guitars, selling fine guitars.

Riley and River are the store's two cocker spaniels—often seen milling about, greeting customers and nosing through books or sleeping on beanbags. River is Riley's nephew and joined the family in 2005.

Zoe Pechter, is originally from Summit, New Jersey and has always been a voracious reader. With the aim of someday publishing her own work, she took a job as the News Director of WMVY shortly after settling on the island with Riley in 2002. Some of her related previous job experiences include writing and delivering the daily news on-air for WMVY, a production and script intern with Sesame Street the show and close to 3 years as a nanny for three wonderful children in Connecticut. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and has a degree in fiction writing.

Riley Rose Pechter was born on February 28th, 2000 and is a pure breed American Cocker Spaniel who happens to be extremely curly! He has lived with Zoe since he was 12 weeks old and truly brings out the best in others, as many dogs do. He enjoys sleeping, playing with the ball and eating.

River Poppy Pechter [right] was born on January 24th 2005, the same day our store was flooded. AND we had already decided to name him River, so we felt he was destined to become part of our family. Biologically he is Riley’s nephew and we can see already he is just as good natured. He enjoys chewing on anything he can sink his teeth into and playing chase.