The Sleepy Hollow Store is located at 5535 E. Washington St. in the Irvington neighborhood. (Michelle Pemberton for The Star)

Joanna Zaphiriou, 32, and Bobbie Zaphiriou, 25, shown here in thier new store, The Sleepy Hollow. (Michelle Pemberton for The Star)

Instead of continuing to wish a store selling music, books, art and quirky gifts would magically appear in their Irvington neighborhood, Bobbie and Joanna Zaphiriou made it happen.

The sisters-in-law, who have lived in the historic Eastside area for 15-plus years, opened the Sleepy Hollow store in April and are continuing to develop the storefront along Washington Street into a cultural destination -- albeit a small one.

"One of our main missions is to promote art, culture and education in the community," said Joanna Zaphiriou, 32. "People really do read on the Eastside, contrary to popular belief."

The store offers new and used books, with a strong emphasis on the literary and artistic. It also sells music, an assortment of art supplies and work by local artists -- including Bobbie Zaphiriou's colorful handmade stuffed creatures.

"We both have a real love of books and music and art," Bobbie, 25, said. "This is our way of bringing that to the people of Irvington. We thought, We need a place like that here. And this is our experiment in finding out if we're the only ones who felt that way. So far, the response has been great."

Joanna remembers a neighborhood artist excited to discover the cases stocked with paints, brushes, notebooks and other supplies. "They said, 'Finally, I don't have to drive all over town to get what I need,' " she said.

The back half of the store is set aside as a gallery showing local artwork and a gathering area for classes, readings, book signings, live music or other community events.

"We want this to be a place where people are comfortable coming in, hanging out and, hopefully, buying a few things," Bobbie said.

The Sleepy Hollow -- named for the short story by Washington Irving, for whom the neighborhood was named -- joins a handful of other nearby artsy spots, including the Studio School and Gallery, 5610 E. Washington St.; Gnosis, a small magazine, book and gift shop, 2 Johnson Ave., and the neighborhood's creative hub, the Lazy Daze Coffee Shop, 10 S. Johnson Ave.

"We're trying to work together with the other businesses to support each other here," Bobbie said. "We really value the neighborhood feel and try to shop local in Irvington as much as we can."

But they hope to draw from beyond the neighborhood.

"There's a potential for us to help put the Eastside on the map. Fountain Square and Broad Ripple are already established," Joanna said. "We'd like to have people think of Irvington more and more as another destination spot. There are a lot of things to do here."

One great day to check out Irvington is the neighborhood's Halloween Festival on Oct. 27, Bobbie said. The store -- decked out in the décor of one of the owners' favorite holidays -- will be open throughout the festival. In addition to stocking extra scary books and toys, the store owners plan to display paper tombstones honoring dead artists and writers.

"Halloween is about respect for the dead," Bobbie said. "This is our way to give props to them."