lori

Co-owner/Receiving

Lori Muller-Zaim is a life-time book lover—From reading under the covers with a flashlight as a kid, to volunteering in the school library for years & years as her children grew up. Lori graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS in Restaurant Management. When she and her husband moved to Cleveland in 1980 she worked for the Baricelli Inn in Little Italy. Lori took time off to have three children - all of whom spent lots of time on the third floor at Fireside. She started working at Fireside Book Shop in 2011. Lori & Jean purchased the business in 2017. It's been great! She's never looked back.

To get in touch with Lori, please email info@firesidebookshop.com

jean

Co-owner/Book Buyer

Jean has been a reader her whole life. One of her earliest memories is having her mother read The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. She discovered Judy Blume around the age of 9 and moved on to novels by middle school. She would arrive early to high school just to sit in front of her locker and read. After getting her B.S. in Chemistry at Miami University, Jean’s first job was at Walden Books at Euclid Square Mall and she never looked back. Jean started working at Fireside when she was just 24, bought it at 44 with her co-worker Lori, and hopes to live out her golden years here, as well. When she’s not reading, Jean loves spending time with her husband, their 3 children and their dog, Daisy. Being surrounded by books everyday is a dream come true for her. Her favorite older books include Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, and Cowboys Are My Weakness by Pam Housten. More recent titles include The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and Beach Read by Emily Henry.

To get in touch with Jean, please email info@firesidebookshop.com

CAROLE

Bookseller

Carole moved to this country from England thirty years ago. It took her until 2014 to find the best job ever at Fireside Bookshop!

To get in touch with Carole, please email cawfbs@gmail.com

ann

Bookseller

Ann retired from Cleveland Metropolitan School District in 2012 after 30 years of teaching. She started working at Fireside that same fall. She is married and has four children and three grandchildren with more on the way. She loves to walk, cook, and most importantly read!

Nancy

Children’s Department Manager

Nancy Thomas Law, a Chagrin Falls native, has been the Children's Department
manager at Fireside for the last ten years. A graduate of Miami University (Oxford), her background is in studio art and art education. Prior to making the return to Chagrin, she lived for 30+ years in Pennsylvania, raising a family, teaching in the local school district, participating on the Board of Directors of a regional art center and working later for Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Reading and natural history are also two of Nancy's long-time loves and you'll see this reflected in the merchandise our Children's Department carries.

To get in touch with Nancy, please email ntlfbs@gmail.com

susann

Bookseller

Susann’s adventures began in Ulm, a lovely town in southern Germany, home to the world's tallest church spire. If you are ever in the area, be sure to visit and make the terrifying climb to the top for the spectacular view! (Albert Einstein was also born in Ulm, but unfortunately the occasional matching hair day is the only trait Susann shares with him.)

Courtesy of her dad's career in the military, Susann’s family covered a lot of territory growing up, including elementary school in France, high school in a small town in the Idaho desert and college in Texas. Susann eventually landed in Los Angeles, where she met her favorite guy ever, who happened to be from the Cleveland area...

Reading has always been one of Susann’s favorite sports. She flexes that muscle monthly with a book group that has been meeting for over twenty years. One of her fondest memories from college is binge-reading all of Charles Dickens. Currently, her favorite storyteller is the late western writer Ivan Doig, whose autobiography This House of Sky deeply touched the wide open skies place in her soul.

Susann likes to walk, bike, and feed the birds. She talks to her houseplants, but would much rather chat with the lovely, interesting, loyal customers who come to Fireside Book Shop!

To get in touch with Susann, please email scsfbs@gmail.com

Valerie

Bookseller/Events & Marketing Coordinator/Fireside Book Club Organizer/ Window Designer

Valerie has been slowly turning her Chagrin Falls house into a replica of a bookstore since she moved here in 2014. Her progress has accelerated significantly since she joined the Fireside staff in 2017. Valerie has a B.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Maine at Farmington and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts program through Kent State University. Her favorite fiction authors include George Saunders, Lorrie Moore, Virginia Woolf, Jorge Luis Borges, Paul Beatty, Madeline Miller and Karen Russell, among others. Someday when she’s done making dinner, doing laundry, walking dogs and helping with math homework, she will probably write a novel about a quaint little bookstore in a charming little town in the Midwest. No clue where she got that idea.

To get in touch with Valerie, please email vjsfbs1@gmail.com

lisa

Bookseller

Lisa has been working at Fireside for three years. She loves working at Fireside and works primarily in the Children’s Department. Lisa is originally from Oklahoma and has a degree in Public Relations and Marketing. She enjoys reading (especially mysteries), being outdoors, and spending time with her family.

robert

Bookseller

Robert's first job after graduating from the University of Illinois with no discernible skills (his fault, not the school's) was as an assistant manager at Waldenbooks. Several promotions, more bookstores (Barnes and Noble and 7 years as manager of Fireside) and 25 years on he reached a career epiphany that he was not going to get rich selling books. Hence a career change to banking. Having wanted to keep his soul, he went back to work part-time at Fireside for the last 10 years. When he's not indulging his intellectual curiosity at the store, he's on his boat or playing with his cats. His soul is still intact.

Oliver

Bookseller

Hi! My name is Oliver, and I love Fireside! Being part of an amazing bookshop with an incredible staff is one of the many hats I wear in my life.  I am also a Computer Science Engineer by degree, a teacher in training, a fully fledged soccer coach, and avid book reader.  I love everything about the written world.  As a fantasy fanatic, a mystery maestro, and a science fiction super fan, it will be hard to find a fiction book I do not enjoy. I am trying to expand my horizons into other genres, and there's no better place to do so than Fireside Bookshop.  I hope to see you soon!

meghan

Bookseller

Meghan joined the staff in the summer of 2021 and has decided that working at Fireside is the best job on the planet (other than being a mom, of course!). To be surrounded by books and the people who love them is a form of heaven on earth.

morgan

Bookseller

Morgan grew up in Moreland Hills and is a current student at Kent State University. She joined us for her senior project and never left!

molly

Bookseller

Molly’s roots in Cleveland run deep and she has been a patron of Fireside since childhood. Molly was a teacher for 23 years and is an avid reader. She loves thrillers (especially Louise Penny), biographies, graphic novels, books about the Civil War and WWII, as long as it’s a good story!
When she isn’t reading or working, Molly loves to be outdoors, do crossword puzzles, make things and spend time with her husband and two daughters.