A love of romance novels and a desire to own her own bookstore inspired Upstate resident Lilly Frederick to launch Swoon Booksellers, a mobile bookstore.

While pop-up stores are not a new concept, Frederick followed the pop-up romance bookstore community on social media and noticed each business owner set up shop in a different way, including buses or inside a store.

“I love romance books, so following them and seeing their journeys (inspired me) to bring it to Greenville,” Frederick said.

Setting up shop

Frederick originally planned to open Swoon as a converted trailer, but a chance encounter with The Traveling Penny, a mobile jewelry store, made her decide to use a Japanese kei truck instead.

“It was the cutest setup,” Frederick said. “That was the same day I decided to open Swoon, and it felt like the universe was saying, ‘Here’s what you could do as a way to make it easy to display those books.’”

Frederick and the owners talked, and she learned she could get the truck from a shop in Columbia. She made the decision to open the business in October 2024 and two weeks later, she had her truck.

She had the truck painted and her roommate’s father helped build shelves to put on the back.

In December 2024, she did her first pop-up event at Sun and Soil Plant Parlor on Augusta Street. Since then, by posting on Instagram and engaging with her followers, Swoon’s business has steadily grown.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Swoon Booksellers (@swoonbooksellers)

Looking ahead

Frederick has moved from doing two pop-ups a month to three to four stops a month. She has also continued to engage her followers by asking what they want her to sell on social media. Since opening, her followers have helped her select books to carry and she has expanded her inventory to include mugs, T-shirts, stickers and Kindle cases.

“I had so much great feedback,” she said. “There was a big debate if people like screen-printed or embroidered (T-shirts). It was really cool that people wanted to buy something Swoon-branded.”

Frederick hosted her first pop-up author signing in April and plans to do at least one event like that each year.

When planning long term for Swoon, Frederick hopes to turn it into a brick-and-mortar store somewhere in Greenville County.

For more information, visit instagram.com/swoonbooksellers.