Congratulations to Huxley & Hiro Booksellers, Wilmington, Del., which has won a $100,000 EDGE Grant from the Delaware Division of Small Business and Delaware Governor Matt Meyer to renovate its event space, the Prose Parlor. The EDGE Grant is a competitive program ending in a Shark Tank-style final competition. Awards are given to business which are less than seven years old and have fewer than 15 employees. The grant aims to foster and encourage innovative ideas.
Huxley & Hiro, which moved recently, will use the money to renovate its unfinished, second-floor event space and outfit it with modern AV, recording, and projection equipment, as well as to create a large advertising budget for the coming years, and establish a salaried event manager position, which will be filled by Timothy Nichols. With the renovation, the Prose Parlor will be 100-seat literary and cultural venue with integrated broadcasting capability.
Huxley & Hiro owner Claire van den Broek has also been selected as Most Influential in Business in Delaware for 2026, an honor that she shared with co-owner Ryan Eanes in 2024.