McHenry County friends create bookstore on wheels

The business idea came to Jacquee McLeod and Cassi Hunn while the two McHenry County women were in a Florida pool.

Their families — including their husbands and two children each — were vacationing together, and the two longtime friends were talking about their dream of jointly running a bookstore.

On that day last June, mobile bookstore Here for the Plot was born. They bought a trailer and outfitted it with books and book-related products, taking it from event to event starting in September.

When they pull their trailer into an event — craft sales, famers markets, and even straight to area businesses for a pop-up event for readers — there are some oohs and aahs from women, the duo said.

“We get heartwarming feedback from the community when we open up the trailer,” McLeod said. Comments include it is “like the bookmobile” that libraries send into neighborhoods with books, she added.

“Every time, it feels so good” because of the positive feedback, said Hunn of Crystal Lake.

It was books and reading that bonded the two way back in middle school.

“We both had a passion for reading,” said McLeod of Cary.

Both said they are e-book readers who also buy physical copies of the books they love.

“I have trophies: three or four editions of the same book,” because each edition has a different feature, Hunn said.

While romance is a favorite, they are selling a little of everything, include thrillers, fantasy and historical fiction, while staying up on what’s trending.

“We try to cater to the masses and what is trending and popular on TikTok,” McLeod said.

They also are working to build a community of readers by hosting pop-up events with local authors and other book-related get-togethers.

“It is such a blessing that has paid off with the relationships we have made. It has been really a tight-knit community,” Hunn said.

Those pop-up events have included a New Year’s event at Lake Villa’s Harbor Brewing Co. Via their Facebook and Instagram pages, they found and invited independent, women authors from across the region to connect with potential readers.

A book club social at Crystal Lake’s The Ellery event venue offered cocktails, food and book-bedazzling and, again, an independent author signing.

“We are building this community, working with local authors and indie authors,” McLeod said.

A shelf in the “Plotmobile” is set aside for those local authors, and many of the books also are signed.

As they ramp up for the summer festival and farmers market season, lessons learned during their first months of operation include having a selection of children’s titles too.

They are still working on their spring and summer schedule, finding new locations via social media and word-of-mouth. Because they’re both working moms, most of the events are over the weekend, and they’re trying to stay within about an hour’s drive. Because the books cannot travel on the shelves, there is setup time when they arrive.

The end goal is a brick-and-mortar store, McLeod said.

“For now, we can bring the books to them,” she added.