By Julia Train
On May 3, sisters and business partners Lauren Long and Megan Irwin attended their first event with their mobile bookstore, Ink & Ivy.
Just eight weeks prior, they decided to set out on this business venture.
The concept came together quickly when Irwin sent Long a South Carolina-based bookstore’s Instagram post that showed its mobile book bus on Feb. 26.
Irwin simply asked, “Business idea?” alongside the post.
Long replied, “Absolutely,” thinking that the idea wouldn’t go any further than that conversation.
But it turned out that the message had actually set a business plan in motion.
“And then a couple days later, she said, ‘Alright, so we have the bus,’ and we just hit the ground running,” said Long.
At the time, their brother had a school bus he had intended to convert into an RV, but never did. Seeing an opportunity, the sisters jumped on it. Within days, they had decided to buy the bus from him, registered as an LLC and began the work of transforming it into a mobile bookstore.
Originally a Ford E-450 mini school bus that had already seen partial RV renovations, the vehicle required significant stripping and reworking. The sisters removed existing fixtures like a couch, bed, shower, stove and kitchen counters. After ripping out the old flooring and walls, they installed subflooring, shelving platforms and storage to prepare the space for their carefully curated inventory.
Altogether, their startup costs came in around $14,000 — a relatively low investment for a fully mobile retail space. The sisters outfitted the bus with books from six main genres: romance, sci-fi, adventure, mystery, fantasy and thriller.
In order to make the bus appealing to younger readers and book club enthusiasts, most of the titles align with popular trends on social media — specifically BookTok, a subcommunity on TikTok that focuses on books and literature.
Events are central to the mobile bookstore’s business model.
Ink & Ivy made its debut at Ludlam Island Brewery’s Spring Vendor Show, and from there, the mobile bookstore already has more than a dozen events to attend through the summer.
The sisters are planning creative, themed events, including book-and-beverage pairings at local wineries and breweries, a book tattoo flash event at Perigee Moon Tattoo Parlor and a book bouquet workshop at Bad Cat Farm.
Another of their planned events, “Pastries and Prosecco,” will feature local authors in partnership with the Ravioli House, offering Q&As and book signings.
Long and Irwin envision the bus itself offering an inviting experience.
Outside, there will be café tables and seating areas, while the interior will display books and small gifts like bookmarks, stickers and locally crafted candles. Future plans include branded merchandise such as tote bags and T-shirts.
Though the idea originated with Irwin, a relatively new reader who only began reading regularly in the past year, Long, a longtime book lover, was immediately on board.
Together, they’re building something that blends their love of reading with a growing sense of community engagement. Both sisters work in education — Long as a teacher and Irwin as a teacher’s assistant — and hope to expand their reach through collaborations with local schools, businesses and artisans.
Currently focused on events in Atlantic and Cape May Counties, the sisters already have 12 events lined up for the summer and are open to partnerships and collaborations with other local creators and venues.
