From Doorfront to Storefront: Multiverse is ready

Gralin and Sara Zia Ebrahimi Hughes typically know what to expect on an average day at Multiverse. The married couple has run the bookstore — which specializes in comics, sci-fi, horror, and fantasy, or speculative fiction — in Chestnut Hill since 2023.

“We love the community here and we get a lot of foot traffic being here on [Germantown] Avenue, which is fun to get to meet new people all the time coming through,” Gralin told the Local.

However, this year is not like others. In 2026, Philadelphia will celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday (the semiquincentennial) and host the FIFA World Cup and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. With plenty of tourists expected to flood the city, small business owners are eager to benefit from this opportunity.

“We really don’t know what to expect,” Sara said. “We’ve been open for three years. We haven’t been open during any kind of major tourist event in Philadelphia yet, and obviously this year is unprecedented in terms of multiple events happening at the same time.”

However, the unprecedented nature of 2026 will not dissuade the Hugheses from doing what they do best. In fact, it has only encouraged them to continue with author readings and signings, game nights, and other community events.

Keeping it simple

According to Courtney O’Neill, executive director of the Chestnut Hill Business District, brainstorming for strategies to draw tourists to the Hill has been an ongoing effort.

“We’ve all been coordinating and talking to each other,” O’Neill said. “It’s not happening in a silo, because we all — whether you’re Morris Arboretum, you’re Woodmere, or you’re a shop on Germantown Avenue — will benefit from the increased foot traffic.”

However, instead of trying out flashy new events, O’Neill believes sometimes it’s best to keep it simple.

“One of the things that we consciously talked about as a district was not trying to be something that we’re not,” O’Neill said. “[We’re] not putting on an event that we’ve never done before just for the sake of putting it on. [We’re] doing things that are our strengths and doing them really, really well, making sure that people are aware of the traditions that exist in Chestnut Hill.”

For Multiverse, the same strategy applies. The Hugheses intend to put on the same events they typically do, as well as participate in citywide events such as The Philly Bookstore Crawl in August.

“Because it’s such an unknown, we’re not really sure what to do differently, other than to keep doing what we have been doing that’s kept our business successful for the last three years,” Sara said. “We want to be true to ourselves and just keep doing what we do as a business, and hopefully that will be interesting enough to folks that come here.”

Digital strategy

Another aspect of Multiverse’s strategy is digital marketing, or improving their reach online.

“We think a lot about our social media strategy, but also our website searchability,” Sara said. “We find, for example, an increasing number of people using ChatGPT to ask questions of where they should go when they visit a town. So, we try to make sure our website content is structured in a way that’s going to be best picked up.”

The Hugheses are not alone in focusing on their online presence. O’Neill said the Chestnut Hill Business District rebuilt its website recently in preparation for the big year. Plus, Jessica Calter, senior vice president of advancement and external affairs for Visit Philadelphia, said the tourism marketing agency has focused on its own website and helped small businesses improve their sites as well.

“When you travel somewhere, you don’t necessarily go get a map from the visitor center,” Calter explained. “You go online on your phone and you look at Yelp and you look at Google. … So, having small businesses have an amazing digital presence has really been a big goal of ours and we’ve helped several hundred businesses over the last couple of years.”

Northwest in the spotlight

Visiting Multiverse and other businesses in Chestnut Hill should be on any tourist’s to-do list in 2026, according to O’Neill.

“We know people are coming to Philadelphia for the historic part of Philadelphia, but we’re historic too, and although they might want to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, we want to make sure they find us and visit Chestnut Hill and Northwest Philly in general,” O’Neill said. “There’s a great mix of retail in a really special setting.”

The Hugheses agree that all neighborhoods in Philadelphia deserve the spotlight.

“I do think people like to visit other neighborhoods and have other experiences,” Sara said. “Having interesting businesses can anchor that. ‘I might come to this area for the store, and then I’ll discover other things while I’m here.’”

Multiverse is located at 8026 Germantown Ave. Learn more at multiversephilly.com.

This article was originally published by The Chestnut Hill Local in partnership with WURD Radio. It is part of a national initiative exploring how geography, policy, and local conditions influence access to opportunity. Find more stories at economicopportunitylab.com.