The Bookstore That Didn’t Have an Address

Long before Amanda Barrios ever had a storefront, she carried her bookstore from one community event to another. It was a pretty unique idea. A mobile book-store. Instead of a food truck, she sold books.

She said she would load up new and used books, bookmarks, stickers, coasters and other reading-themed merchandise, arrange everything at a vendor table and wait for fellow book lovers to discover that an independent bookstore had come to them.

The concept often drew excitement. Customers were surprised to encounter a traveling bookstore and grateful for an opportunity to buy physical books from a local business.

But some interactions were not so great.

For instance, a shopper would pick up a book and ask Barrios for the price. When she answered, they would sometimes tell her they could find it a few dollars cheaper on Amazon, put the book back and walk away with total disregard.

“It’s disheartening,” Barrios said. “That $17 is not going to mean anything to Amazon. The $20 to me is going to mean being able to buy more merchandise to put into my pop-up.”

Those moments reflected one of the central challenges facing independent bookstores. Large retailers can purchase enormous quantities of books and sell them at prices that small businesses cannot always match.

Explaining that difference to customers is not always easy, particularly while standing behind a temporary table and trying to build a business one sale at a time.

Still, Barrios kept showing up.

What began as a mobile pop-up has now grown into Booktique Unlimited. It’s Barrios’ permanent independent bookstore built around books, events and community connection.

Barrios, who works full time while studying English at Dominican University, said owning a bookstore had long been her dream. She expects to graduate in December 2027, but balancing school, work and entrepreneurship initially made opening a traditional location difficult.

She wanted to bring a bookstore to the Burbank area but struggled to find the right opportunity. After seeing another entrepreneur sell books while traveling in a vehicle, she adapted the idea into something she could manage without the vehicle itself.

She began applying to vendor events, setting up pop-up shops and talking directly with readers.

The response confirmed what she had suspected - people in the community wanted a bookstore of their own.

“Everybody is saying, ‘Finally, something like this in our area,’” Barrios said. “I’m so excited that I finally have the opportunity to get this done.”

Booktique Unlimited will sell new and gently used books for children and adults, along with bookmarks, mugs, Kindle accessories, educational toys and other merchandise created with readers in mind.

Barrios also wants the store to provide, simply, a place for people to gather.

Plans include traditional book clubs, romance-focused groups, author signings, children’s activities and craft events inspired by featured books. One of the store’s more unusual offerings will be an audiobook club, where visitors can work on a craft, puzzle or personal hobby while listening to a book together.

Barrios is also planning seasonal events, including a Halloween bookstore night designed to give adults a place to enjoy the holiday alongside other readers and horror authors.

Basically, Barrios wants and hopes to make reading feel inviting rather than obligatory, particularly for children.

She remembers eagerly completing book reports as a student, sometimes filling the back of the page because she had more to say. Series such as “Harry Potter” and books by authors including Judy Blume helped deepen her interest in reading.

Now the mother of an 11-year-old, she sees a different relationship with books among many children. Her son sometimes becomes more interested when she reads alongside him, but she worries that students are not always being encouraged to engage deeply with what they read.

National data supports her broader concern about declining reading performance. Average reading scores for both fourth- and eighth-grade students fell by two points between 2022 and 2024, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. No state or jurisdiction recorded an increase in either grade during that period. Fourth-grade declines affected nearly every performance group, while eighth-grade losses were concentrated among lower- and middle-performing students.

The decline also extends to older students. The average reading score for high school seniors fell three points between 2019 and 2024 and reached the lowest level recorded since the current 12th-grade assessment began. The 2024 score was 10 points below the national average reported in 1992.

Barrios hopes Booktique Unlimited can help address the problem at the community level by giving young readers more freedom to discover subjects and stories they genuinely enjoy.

“I’m trying to make it not feel like a requirement for kids, but more like entertainment,” she said.

During a National Night Out event last year, Barrios distributed complimentary books to help children prepare for the new school year. One visitor told her that his sister-in-law was a teacher struggling to build a classroom library and asked whether he could take a few books for her students.

Instead of handing him two or three, Barrios brought out a box and filled it.

“He was in such shock,” she said. “He was like, ‘I can really take all these?’”

The experience inspired Barrios to create Books for Nooks, a program through which teachers can be nominated to receive bundles of books for their classrooms.

Barrios said donated books do not always become inventory for the store. Some can make a greater difference in classrooms or in homes where children do not have books of their own.

“If a teacher needs these books, please take them,” she said. “If he came up to me with his child and said, ‘We don’t have books at home,’ I would have done the same thing. I would have said, ‘Here’s a box. Fill it up.’”

She hopes to create a store where that generosity becomes part of a larger community culture.

In the future, Barrios would like to expand Booktique Unlimited to offer coffee and other drinks, comfortable seating and a children’s area. She imagines parents reading on a sofa while their children play nearby, book lovers discussing genres without judgment and visitors feeling welcome even when they are not purchasing anything.

She also wants readers to know that supporting an independent bookstore does not always require spending money.

Following the business on social media, sharing its posts, subscribing to its newsletter, attending a free event, recommending it to a friend or donating used books can all help Booktique Unlimited grow. Barrios currently offers book clubs without a participation fee and provides complimentary copies to readers who register early enough.

“You don’t have to spend a penny to support us,” she said. “You just have to show the support is there.”

Barrios’ connection with the Southland Development Authority (SDA) began through one of her pop-up events at Donut Dudes, another SDA-supported business.

That event introduced her work to the SDA’s Jamie Makuch, who contacted Barrios to learn more about the mobile bookstore and her plans for its future.

Barrios said Makuch has continued to encourage her, connect her with resources and celebrate each new milestone.

“Honestly, if I told her I wanted to open a bookshop in space, she would have been so encouraging and made it happen somehow,” Barrios said. “She would have given me all the contacts to talk to.”

After years of imagining the store and months of carrying it from event to event, Barrios is now preparing to welcome readers into a permanent space.

Whether Booktique Unlimited remains there for years, she said, will ultimately depend on the same people it was created to serve.

“We will stay there as long as you need us,” Barrios said. “But it has to come from the community.”

According to its website, Booktique Unlimited is schedule to open August 29.

About the Southland Development Authority

The Southland Development Authority, a not-for-profit economic development organization, is committed to driving equitable and sustainable economic growth in the South Suburbs of Chicago. Through innovative programs, strategic partnerships, and impactful direct investments, the SDA is building a vibrant, inclusive economy that drives wealth growth for individuals, businesses, and municipalities. Combined with the benefits of the South Suburban Land Bank and the Monarch Fund, the SDA serves as a model for regional development.