Mobile Book Stores

I spend too much time looking at YouTube clips, but usually I'm delighted to find ideas that inspire me to say "If I had the money, I would..." in this case, I would consider being a partner in a collective that owns a mobile book shop.  Yesterday I watched clips in which entrepreneurs had outfitted their vans into mobile book stores. Some of the book sellers designed their shops to target specific audiences -- such as parents of children or LGBW (the "W" stands for whomever I have missed) population. I couldn't find any clips that showed mobile book shops that catered to people of color -- and I'm going to put it out here right now. When I say "people of color," I'm including ALL people of color. I'm not sure who came up with the idea of separating Black people from people of color (as in BIPOC), but when I was a child, if someone said "people of color," then he or she was understood to mean Black or Biracial people, get it? Now that we cleared that up, allow me to continue.  I think such a book store would be warmly received, for I live in a small city in which there are no African-American bookstores of which I am aware. This is remarkable, for this city boasts a prestigious university, and the housing market is designed for those with a liveable salary. Such an investment would cost thousand of dollars, and taking a chance on any book endeavor would be unpredictable at best. BUT  imagine it's a snowy day, for Christmas approaches. There you stand, inviting parents and caregivers to come into your mobile book store while they shop for books for holiday gifts. The register is at the back of the van, while outside in the brrr temps, one of your partners-in literacy hands out candy canes and fliers to the book club or story teller's event you plan to sponsor. Your love of books and sheer stubbornness will pull you  through, though.  Optimism, my friend, optimism.