Call it a curiosity shop of sorts, where local patrons can gather with friends over a cup of joe, and may stumble on special sundries for sale. Children’s author Daniel Nayeri’s latest creative endeavor is a playful nod to his graphic novel series, The Bizarre Bazaar: a vending machine of treasures with unique stories to tell.

Housed at Rock Hill Coffee Roasters in South Carolina, this project is the brainchild of the Newbery Honor author and his wife, fellow author Alexandra Davis, who unveiled the machine last December during the town’s annual Christmas festival. The coffeehouse fixture, which preceded the release of his series’ second title, The Bizarre Bazaar: Down a Dark Path (Little, Brown Ink) in January, continues to generate buzz throughout the community of Rock Hill.

Art Imitating Life

The initial idea for this venture took root a few years ago while Nayeri was on a book tour. “I saw a vending machine full of gaming-related items like Dungeons & Dragons dice, Mario Bros. stickers, and the like, and I was delighted by the whole thing,” he told PW. It wasn’t until Nayeri had finished writing The Bizarre Bazaar #1 that he considered bringing this concept to life. “I thought, wouldn’t it be amazing to have a pop-up shop that presented as a mysterious store full of oddities?” he said.

The proposition resurfaced again last summer when he and Davis were talking with friends at the community pool. “While the kids were doing cannonballs, the parents were sitting around chatting about nothing and everything,” Davis recalled. “Eventually, Daniel threw out the idea of [having] a vending machine somewhere in town that featured local artists and weird ephemera.” When one of the fathers mentioned a contact who sold vending machines, she watched her husband’s eyes light up. “Before I knew it, we had a refurbished machine in our garage, and a local artist, Will Gold, painted it to look like a bazaar,” Davis said.

With the wheels in motion, Davis began reaching out to creative friends—painters, fabric artists, and jewelers—and scouring antique shops for possible wares. Another friend introduced her to estate sales, while she explored packaging design concepts. “We were trying to get it up and running for the holiday season, so we didn’t have a lot of time,” Davis said.

Next on the list was finding a community partner to house the makeshift machine, but that item practically checked itself off. Davis and Nayeri tapped Bryan Boan, owner of Rock Hill Coffee, whom they describe as an entrepreneur open to trying new things and supporting the local arts. “The space is rich with textural layers and good smells,” Davis said of the coffeehouse. “There are always books on the tables, art on the walls, and a steady stream of families hanging out, college students playing chess, and business folks having their meetings.”

Curated Collections

Since the machine’s successful debut in December, the husband-and-wife team have worked to maintain an eclectic inventory of fun finds. Goods are typically replenished weekly, with each purveyor sourcing oddities that cater to their individual interests: a 1950 dissection kit, 1920s hand-painted Russian spoons, and 1990s sports cards (Nayeri), and 1960s jewelry, 1980s toys, and vintage spoons (Davis). Their love of literature is also apparent, as evidenced by recent out-of-print and indie books, including Nelson Doubleday’s Personal Success series, Kitty Curran’s How Ill Is Your Repute?, and Nayeri’s own How to Tell a Story.

Nayeri and Davis revealed the items that are most special to them: for the former, a set of musical spoons hand-carved from Spanish cedar, circa 1947, and for Davis, a brass spoon with a mischievous imp carved on the handle and a diamond-shaped bowl. “The weight of it in my hand made it feel substantive and strange, as if I could make wishes on it somehow, but the imp would make sure to twist them all in the wrong direction,” she said.

While Nayeri has received plenty of positive feedback from patrons—including requests for other vending machines—he is focused on writing the next installment in his four-book series. He is hopeful that his shopkeeper characters will make as much of an impression on young readers as the vending machine has done for locals. “Like any other author, I’m trying to figure out how to do that in a way that feels generous and playful,” Nayeri said. “I think people gravitate to the machine for the same reason: the items inspired their imaginations, and we’re all hungry for good stories.”