The Bronx’s first mobile bookstore finally hits the road

Back in 2019, Bronxite Latanya DeVaughn revealed her plans for bringing a mobile bookstore to The Bronx that would travel across the borough with the ability to serve communities lacking such a critical resource.

It was immediately met with widespread support from not just across the borough and city but the country, with folks immediately reaching out asking how they could help or be a part of this project.

Now, after almost two and a half long years, most of which was through the COVID-19 pandemic, Bronx Bound Books has a fully operational bus and is already in operation across the borough.

This past Saturday, the bus made its debut at Clinton High School outside the James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center, where it will be every first and fourth Saturday of the month from 10 AM to 3 PM until November 13th.

Residents were already enjoying the novelty of a mobile bookstore with parents and their kids going through the wide selection of offerings Bronx Bound Books has on its shelves.

“Before, when it would start raining, I would have to pack up my books and end my day early, but now I can just continue inside the bus,” said DeVaughn, who has been popping up at various locations across the borough without a bus until now.

And although the bus isn’t complete as to what she would want it to look like, she said she could no longer keep waiting for it to be perfect and decided to do a soft launch as is.

DeVaughn still wants to paint the bus’s exterior and have an artist and the community partake in the process; however, an exact timeline for that is still in the works.

Since the beginning when the concept of the mobile bookstore was launched in May of 2019, the bookstore was unlike many other independent bookstores. The community truly has taken ownership and pride in the concept, whether through volunteering, donating books, or making financial contributions, they have been an integral part of Bronx Bound Books.

And it wasn’t accidental, but by design that it has been that way as DeVaughn wanted this space to be truly for the community.

You can catch Bronx Bound Books on the first and second Saturdays of the month in front of the James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center at DeWitt Clinton High School from 10 AM to 3 PM until November 13th; each Sunday at the Riverdale Y Sunday Market from 9 AM to 2 PM until December 19th; and Every Wednesday at the New York Botanical Garden’s Farmer’s Market from 10 AM to 3 PM.

Bronx Bound Books will also be on City Island on Saturday, September 18th, from 10 AM to 4 PM at Clipper Coffee at 274 City Island Avenue (raindate Sunday, September 19th). This event is sponsored by City Island Rising and Clipper Coffee. If you’d like to donate your own books, you can do so by dropping them off at Clipper Coffee or Archie’s Tap and Table.

Every neighborhood deserves a bookstore, and now, thanks to Bronx Bound Books, every neighborhood in The Bronx can finally have one.