VAN Converted into Quaint MOBILE BOOKSTORE
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When Alexa and Emory moved two years ago to LA it was a complete change of life from where they previously lived in New York. They started driving more, and realized that everything revolves around driving in LA’s infrastructure. They were working jobs that were completely unrelated to writing and kind of wanted to refocus their lives around books and writing. Emory was working in restaurants and Alexa was doing fundraising at the LA Chamber orchestra downtown. She learned a lot from that job that she feels helps her in this job. They were inspired by the food truck scene in LA and decided to do something similar with their next business opportunity, a small mobile bookstore called Twenty Stories with an inventory of books that rotate. In order to do this, they needed to find the right vehicle. They shopped around Craigslist quite a bit and eventually found this one.
The van is a 1987 Chevy G20. They got it on Craigslist for $2000 and had 99,000 miles on it. They have three 100w solar panels up top that they use to charge their phones and computers while they work. The three panels charge up three batteries on the inside of the van. It was originally a baby blue color that was spray painted on, so they ended up scrubbing that down and repainting it, which was probably the longest part of the conversion.
They pick 20 titles every month as a curated selection. Poetry, fiction, nonfiction and then at the first of every month they switch it all out. The bookstore always has a new selection if people were to visit them again and also they update all those titles on their online store as well. They ended up installing removable bookshelves right on the side of the van which let them display all the books that they’re currently selling. Previously they had a normal standing bookshelf like one you would see in your home, but they wanted more browsing space.
They also have a small gifts and books section. There are notebooks and their greeting cards which are from this really cute store in Highland Park called Shorthand, which is a store that they love. They’ve been in there multiple times before, so when they opened up the store they really wanted to carry their products.
There is more of the bulk of their fiction poetry and nonfiction selection. ‘Get In Trouble’ by Kelly Link is one of Alexa’s favorite books right now. It’s a really great short story collection with surrealist scenarios that seem to switch moment to moment in often unexpected ways. Another poetry book they’ve sold is called ‘Olio’ by Tyehimba Jess, another one of Alexa’s favorites. She loves it because it's pretty much an art book with poetry and the way it's printed and stylized is really amazing. Those are probably the two she would point out in their collection, but it's always changing so next month will be a whole new gig.And then up there are more of their stand out titles; ones they think people really will gravitate to. New releases as well as then a little further along they have their t-shirt, their tote bag, and then their children's books selection which they just added because everyone was asking them if they had kids books.
When they put the bookshelves on their sliding doors, they lose access to that entrance, so they make sure to have all of their inventory accessible from the back. Inside they have faux wood paneling that they want to eventually get redone and remodel it. Also the carpet inside they want to tear out and replace with bamboo flooring or something a little nicer. they have all of their bins that they’re using for storage right now. They’re hoping to eventually buil out and have nicer storage, wooden shelves, something that's a little easier to kind of navigate instead of climbing in and grabbing a book every time they sell one. They’re about a month in now so they’re working with what they have at the moment, but they’re hoping to put those upgrades in in the next few months or so.
They have a cabinet that stores their batteries, as well as a little cooler. They hope to get a fridge in there so they can bring along lunch and keep some water cool. One of their goals is to have multiple vans in the coming months and hopefully years and so each van would be unique. They were thinking for their second van instead of having the shelves on the side of the van they would have a permanent roll up door that they would pull up and the books would always sit inside.
One of Emory’s favorite books they have on the van right now is ‘Sing Unburied Sing’ by Jasmine Ward. It's really unique in the way it's told. It's told from multiple perspectives so every chapter is kind of different, but it's the same story, so you see both the mom and the sons viewpoints on the same situation. They read all the titles themselves, so 10 between each of them, and they can kind of talk to you about what they like to read and they might like genre or they might like fantasy and more literary fiction so they kind of like to navigate with them and suggest two or three titles they think will be best for them.
Their favorite part so far is having those conversations and they met so many people they wouldn't have met otherwise. they just get to have these conversations about what people like to read and make connections through the love of reading. They get a lot of people who are like writers themselves and they're like, "oh I just came out with a book from a small publisher, do you want to read it?" and they’re like, "oh yeah of course send it to us" and then they’re like able to read it and see if it's something they want to carry on the van. They think that if you follow your gut you can't go wrong. Go for it whether that takes a few months or longer or if it's next week. Focus your life on what you want to do and then take the time to do it.
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