Lisa Filipe, owner of Bad B’s, took on her passion for reading, packed it into a teal Suzuki Hijet named Queenie and hit the road selling romance books.
With her grand opening recently at Bigger’s Market, located off Market Street, her mobile romance bookstore is the start of her travels.
“I always wanted to have a bookshop, but day jobs get in the way, you have your family and you can’t really have your dreams happen until it’s the right time. This time happens to be right,” Filipe said.
She said she was interested in purchasing a local bookshop that was for sale but was drawn into the concept of having a mobile bookstore instead.
“I can do that in Wilmington because there is nothing like it around,” Filipe said, explaining the concept of her new business. “I could travel and go to places where there are no bookshops.”
Filipe sells a variety of romance books from popular reads, such as “Funny Story” by Emily Henry, to local indie authors in the surrounding area.
For her day job, she works for New York Times bestselling authors and organizes book tours. She said she re-discovered her love for romance books through her job.
“Some of my favorites are on here,” Filipe said, speaking about which books to sell. “I sell a lot that I have seen, like bestsellers, and I sent out a form to indie authors who would want to be on my truck too.”
She said supporting indie authors is important to her and she wants to help get their books on more shelves in the area. In addition, Filipe includes other genres, such as fantasy and LGBTQ books, to cover all different romance genres.
Other bookish merchandise can be found at her mobile bookstore. The items, such as bookmarks, book themed stickers and tote bags, were all purchased through small businesses.
“I like to support creative people,” Filipe said. “Small businesses support small businesses.”
Filipe noted how excited she was once she got the truck and all of the planning that went into Bad B’s. After weeks of tedious work – including the promotion of the launch, finding merchandise and selecting books – everything came together.
“I have always wanted to have my own bookstore,” Filipe said. “But, this is fun because you’re not always stuck in one place and I can go wherever I want to go. I can go to Hampstead or Monkey Junction and sell books to everybody. It’s so much fun.”
Details on where to find Bad B’s mobile bookstore can be found on Instagram.
