‘Be a part of the story’: Hillsboro’s new fantasy bookstore brings ‘Hidden Worlds’ to life

You step into a bookstore. Warmth instantly eases the chill from the cold rain outside, and you’re overwhelmed by the earthy scent of paper, ink and binding. Bookshelves fill up the cozy room, carrying hundreds of novels and universes just waiting to be discovered.

Walking in, wet boots squeaking despite your best attempts to dry them on the doormat, you eye the fantasy section. As you make your way over, Bella Swan (still human) greets you with a smile.

“Happy to help you find whatever book you’re looking for!” she says. Edward Cullen appears behind her and — okay.

This is not real life (clearly).

But it is what Hayley Klarich imagined when she first thought of opening a bookstore. An immersive, slightly theatrical, place to find fantasy books of all kinds. Something magical. Transportable. And cozy.

“A spot where you can really come in and be a part of the story,” she said.

Klarich held the grand opening for her new bookstore, Hidden Worlds, Saturday in Hillsboro’s Orenco Station neighborhood. Before opening, nearly 100 people were lined up down the block.

“The readers show up, they show out, they’re really supportive,” Klarich said.

Waiting outside, Hillsboro residents Allison Cutter and Ashley Abigana were looking forward to having a fantasy-specific bookstore nearby. Abigana, who called herself “a fantasy sci-fi nerd from the womb,” said this is right up her alley.

“I’ve got arrow earrings, a Gandalf earring — this is my dream, to be ‘Isekai’d’ to another world, with, of course, OP powers, because no one wants to be an NPC in a magical world, right? So, yeah, I love all the things, and I’m super excited about this thing since it’s great,” she said.

The bookstore includes two distinct rooms: The Gothic Library and The Reading Room, both embellished with dark wood paneling and deep midnight blue paint.

The library is where people will do most of their shopping, Klarich said. Paintings with gilded frames and golden mirrors adorn the walls, while a fireplace and flickering LED candles scattered throughout shelves and tables make you feel like you’re a medieval character in a 14th century castle. Large, arched Gothic windows are tinted to slightly block out the real world. A live harp performance offered a gentle soundtrack for readers’ perusal.

An entire wall of the library consists of several bookshelves stacked with options, including young adult, high fantasy, paranormal romance, romantasy, historical fantasy and more. Local authors like Lindsay Straube, Orin Steele, Jenn Neal and Aiden Thomas also line the shelves, which have mini dragon figurines perched up high, peering down at you.

The reading area is what Klarich hopes will be the immersive, theatrical experience. Featuring a stone wall with more Gothic cathedral windows and LED lighting, this room has several seats for book clubs, D&D adventures or other fantastical, literary escapes.

Linda Dean, who works in a high school library, was visibly excited about the new bookstore, chatting with her friend and coworker about something new at every turn.

“I love all of them. And this is just like a wonderful selection. I think the authors that the owner picked are just fabulous,” she said. It’s a wide variety of choices for everybody’s taste. A little bit of like romance, a little mystery, a little bit of conflict."

Dean said she’s definitely noticed an uptick in her students’ interest in fantasy.

“The students where I work, they go through phases,” she explained. “So it was podcast murder mysteries, like true crime. Then it was mystery. And now it’s more fantasy. And I don’t know if it’s because of, like, BookTok or other socials.”

Even before the grand opening, Hidden Worlds had been operating through frequent pop-up events for over a year. Klarich said she’s seen incredible reception since the very first event, a silent book club at Mazuma Brewing in July 2025. Readers gathered together for an hour and read in silence (ish).

“So that was the first event we did, and I remember being so afraid. I was like, no one’s going to show up to this. Why would anyone come to this? And we ended up maxing out the restaurant,” Klarich said. “And it’s been pretty consistent since we do a silent book club every month, and typically we have 50 to 75 readers attend.”

Over the course of a few months, Klarich witnessed firsthand a group of women go from strangers to close friends. From the first silent book club, to a later meeting where they wore matching “Throne of Glass” T-shirts, to hearing they now babysit each other’s cats and hang out outside of book events.

“I think that’s part of what’s really special about these book events is that it does bring people together and it forms those friendships and those communities that I think we really need right now,” Klarich said.

You could say that Bella Swan and her Cullen coven loosely inspired Klarich’s founding of Hidden Worlds.

Klarich majored in theater arts, and has always loved books, movies and music. After graduating, she found herself reading for fun again.

“As I think so many millennial women do, right? You reach this point where you pick up a book again, and for a lot of people it’s A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas,” Klarich said. “For me, it was when I got back into Twilight, smack dab in the middle of the pandemic, and I was like, I need something. And Twilight was my escape.”

After attending the Forever Twilight Festival in Forks, Washington, for the first time with her friend and author MB Thurman, she immediately gravitated toward the way books were brought to life.

“I just found this concept so interesting, and I thought about a bookstore where you could sometimes run into these characters. Like maybe it’s not every day, but occasionally maybe Bella Swan is going to be selling you your book and telling you about her favorite novels,” Klarich explained.

“So when I had already had the idea of a bookstore, going to this festival really inspired me to take it from just being a place where you get books to being a place where you experience books.”

The idea of immersive storytelling felt natural to Klarich, who opened a children’s entertainment company about a decade ago and employed actors to transform into “party princesses.” If you dress up as Elsa, she said, kids will believe you are Elsa.

“I think what really pushed it into the fantasy realm was the design element, like leaning on the theater background and wanting to have a store that was more than just your regular bookstore,” she explained. “I think fantasy really lends itself well to that, to make a space that is more special.”

Klarich moved to Orenco Station in Hillsboro about five years ago, and soon felt something was missing.

“I saw this really vibrant, really cool community that didn’t have things to do other than eat and drink,” Klarich said. “So, I wanted to be able to provide events and activities and a place to be in the neighborhood.”

The bookstores that exist in the Beaverton area — mainly Powell’s at Cedar Hills, Jan’s & Arcade, Kinokuniya, The Book Corner — are few and far between, literally and geographically. Klarich said she has even met a few regulars who travelled all the way from Vancouver and Eugene to visit Hidden Worlds, a level of interest she simply wasn’t anticipating.

With Portland Book Week in the summer and Portland Book Festival in the fall, and countless charming bookstores sprinkled throughout, Klarich calls the city “a reader’s paradise.” One of her favorite parts of being a bookseller in the Portland metro is that there’s no ugly competition between booksellers.

“I’m friends with or at least talk to every other bookseller in town, and no one’s ever like, ‘We sell the same book, don’t talk to me,’” Klarich said. “There’s communication and people are always hyping each other up and giving recommendations and ideas for ways to improve your bookstore.”

Right now, you can find Klarich reading “The Wicked Sea” by Jordan Stephanie Gray. She’s looking forward to chatting with customers and helping pick the right book for them.