Small Business Promotion Week: Smash Toast & Folklore Grove Bookstore
Published on April 27, 2026
By Office of Communication
Longtime friends, Martin High School grads, and now business partners Bobby King and Kait Thibeaux are creating a funky, sandwich and book-loving community in the Arlington Brownstones. The owner of Smash Toast, Bobby King opened the sandwich shop in September of last year.
“This was an idea that I had for a long time. When I was in college, I had a lot of food allergies and one of the only things I could make was specialty grilled cheeses, and I got pretty good at it.”
King took the leap when he saw the shop at 2410 W. Abram Street Suite 116 become available on social media. He hired a friend and a local artist to paint the unique mural on their wall, and he invited another longtime friend, Kait Thibeaux, to open a speakeasy book shop inside.
“Kait and I have been friends forever. Her husband and I have known each other since we were nine,” King remembered. “It’s been a great environment to foster a community.”
Folklore Grove Bookstore is hidden behind a bookshelf on the right of the sandwich shop. If you’re interested in visiting, don’t worry, the door is almost always open. Thibeaux is incredibly grateful for the support of the Arlington community, and she hand picks every book inside the store. Putting a big emphasis on local authors and books with disability representation.
“Books have always been my escape. I deal with chronic illness, disability and mental health issues. On the days where I felt like I couldn’t get out of bed, stories were always my escape,” Thibeaux shared. “It’s been so cool to see people come in and say ‘I struggle with this chronic illness, do you have any books that have that in there’ and I get to say ‘yes’. Everybody should be able to find a book that has a character that looks like them.”
Together King and Thibeaux are creating a place people not only visit for a quick meal, but a fun, lively shop with community events like D&D, live music sets, book-binding classes and more. They even have a secret menu that you might have to go look for.
“We like to be different. Our public menu is more traditional kind of sandwiches. But we have some crazy different ones on our secret menu. I hear there’s a pizza sandwich. And then our secret is that we have the best coffee in Arlington, and the big difference is we make our syrups. No one else is doing that.”
Learn more about Smash Toast by visiting their Facebook or their Instagram. You can also check them out in person at 2410 W. Abram Street. Learn more about Folklore Grove Bookstore by visiting their Facebook or their Instagram. You can visit the One Start Development Center, on the second floor at City Hall from April 27 – May 1, 2026, during Small Business Promotion week. The City’s Planning and Development Service Department is also hosting Customer Appreciation Week during the same time and will be providing refreshments and bottled water for the customers visiting the Small Business Promotion table.
The City of Arlington is highlighting small local businesses throughout 2026. Canales Furniture, another Small Business of Arlington, who has grown substantially in the last few years, wants to give back to the community and is sponsoring this program with the Planning & Development Services Department for the year 2026. In their new headquarters at 102 E. I-20 Highway, they have dedicated a training room for their growing community, including free English-speaking classes, citizenship classes, and teaching small businesses on how to utilize social media as a marketing tool.