ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Taylor Thomas was born a bookwork.
“I like that it’s just a form of self-care almost,” she said.
Thomas and her partner own hundreds of books.
“I would say this is our favorite. And then we have our T.B.R. (To Be Read) list, so like all the books that we are planning on reading but haven’t gotten to read yet, so yeah, there’s a lot of books everywhere,” Thomas explained.
Her book collection started as a kid and evolved into a business.
“In 2020, I had started Secondhand Librarian, which is like my book-stagram, and I was selling a lot of books through that, and I just didn’t really anticipate it getting as big as it did so quickly," she said.
It continued to grow until she announced she was rebranding and expanding. She’s creating Archivist Books, which will be Rochester’s first queer-owned, Black-owned, mobile book store. Thomas plans on going to communities where it’s harder to find good reads for a good price.
“I found that like there’s like 2,500 independent bookstores in the country and only like 150 are owned by Black people, which is like crazy to me and so I think like a part of the mobility aspect is so I can kind of go to the neighborhoods that don’t have like the trendy, independent bookstore and like I guess like go like converse with kind like that look like me growing up,” She said.
Thomas frequently attends pop-ups throughout the community. She’s found a way to make reading a way to connect with fellow bookworms. Her favorite part is giving recommendations.
“A lot of the reasons I’m here now is because of the community and it's like making new connections with the community is like really fun,” she said.
Thomas is fundraising to help her prepare for the new branch of her business. Money is going to renovating her mobile book trailer, helping with stock and helping her learn to manage a business.
“I’m trying to raise $10,000 so that’ll be for getting the stock, getting whatever vehicle I decide to use, renovating it,” She said.
Her GoFundMe has blown up since she first published it. One of her favorite authors even found her and donated.
“Major authors have donated,” she explained. “Yeah, like books that are on my shelf and I love. Which is insane.”
The money is already being put to use. Thomas recently took a road trip across the country with her partner to pick up a trailer that will soon be home to Archivist Books.
“It was like a little bit of an adventure to get it… I feel like actually seeing it makes it more real,” She said.
Thomas says this is the first step and she’s looking forward to what’s next.
“I plan on going to a lot of different neighborhoods, specifically ones that don’t have access to bookstores. That’s the goal is to be able to really bring books to a lot of people that don’t have access to it normally,” she explained. “I think we’re going to slowly work in stages and get there.”
Archivist Books will be on the roads by next year. It will be bringing books to communities across the state.
To follow along Thomas’ journey, click here.