A new bookstore is open in Northern Virginia, and it’s not one you’ll find on a map. The Wandering Shelf is a bookshop on wheels, fashioned from a van that owner Tessa Cannon renovated herself.
The shop rolls around the region, primarily around Arlington, making stops where shoppers can peruse its stock of new and used books.
Cannon says she created The Wandering Shelf because she saw a need for more independent bookstores in the Arlington area and wanted to connect more with the community. Because she’s self-funded, she knew she couldn’t afford a brick-and-mortar storefront, but she had a camper van. And with a little elbow grease, she hoped it could be retrofitted to become the bookstore she dreamed about.
“I had the van and saw that need, and I put two and two together. I didn’t really bat an eye thinking about anything else,” she says.
The final result is a cozy bookshop that can fit several customers at a time, with a stock of around 700 books. Cannon says she wanted the space to be “accessible and spacious so people felt comfortable walking around and not too crowded.”
Customers will find a mix of new and used fiction and nonfiction titles. The inventory falls into categories that Cannon describes as “cozy, fantastical, and impactful.” Most books are for adults or young adults, but there are some for kids, too.
“I mainly do books that are trying to speak to people … making them feel known or maybe challenging them, which is kind of the impactful genre,” Cannon says.
The Wandering Shelf had a soft opening last spring and a grand opening in October. “I’ve had a really positive response,” she says. “We’ve already grown a little regular customer base, which has been really exciting. And then we also have new people all the time who say, ‘I didn’t know this existed, and we’re really happy you’re here.’”
The Wandering Shelf can often be found at Arlington’s Oakland Park on Thursday mornings and Courthouse Plaza on Saturdays. It also makes stops at farmers and artisan markets around the region. You can check the schedule on Instagram @thewanderingshelf.va.
Feature image courtesy The Wandering Shelf
This story originally ran in our January issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
