Saturday, July 16, 2016

On the road ; mobile childrbookstore

Shelf Awareness

Blue Baboon Books, a mobile children's bookstore in Wichita, Kans., will host its grand opening this weekend at Clifton Square Village, located in the main retail area of the city's historic College Hill neighborhood. Bookselling This Week reported that Sara Ornelas "is now the proud owner of a brand-new 7-by-16-foot, custom-built cargo trailer outfitted with air conditioning and grid-wall shelving holding about 2,000 books."

"For years and years, I kept toying with the idea of opening a permanent retail location for a bookstore, but rent is really high and I didn't think I would be able to get a loan," said Ornelas. "The guy from Trailers and More in Wichita [who built the trailer] was very up on how high the ceilings needed to be, what kind of insulation we would need, the amount of weight it could hold." The space, she added, "is a lot roomier than you might think."

Ornelas noted that Blue Baboon "will offer three different services": children's birthday parties, scheduled stops in the community, and "book bounces" for private homeowners. She will also "park in different commercial areas around town and then announce the buggy's location on social media," BTW wrote.

"The hope is that this becomes a seven-day-a-week job," she said, "but to have that happen I need to book some more events and work on marketing a little more."

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