This Friday, Dave Eggers opens his newest enterprise — a Super Hero Supply Store in Brooklyn. The shop, complete with a secret door, is a clever front for his latest literacy and writing program for kids. The New York Times offers a peek inside:

A sibling of the 826 Valencia learning lab and pirate–goods store in San Francisco started by Dave Eggers, 826NYC borrows the formula that made its California counterpart so successful: a volunteer–driven tutoring program housed in a distinctly unexpected setting.

“The atmosphere is loose, even eccentric, and that puts kids at ease,” said Mr. Eggers, who, though he lives in San Francisco, is a familiar figure in Brooklyn, the place where he founded McSweeney’s literary journal.

While the superhero supply store will function as a retail space, providing income to support the center, it was conceived as a way to captivate young writers and passers-by.

“If you put ‘free tutoring’ on the banner, nobody’s going to come in,” said Scott Seeley, the director of operations, who established the center with Doug Bowmen, its educational director. “But if you put ‘superhero’ — we’re already getting a constant flow of people asking questions.”

The store has everything a modern, well–equipped superhero might need: leotards, boots, tights, magnets, chain ladders, nets and other tools of the villain–fighting trade.