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November 28, 2025 13 mins

A 16-foot trailer, hand-built shelves, and the smell of custom candles set the stage for one of the most heartwarming business stories in Fredericksburg. We sit down with English teacher and founder Katie O’Mara, who turned a spark of inspiration and a meaningful family legacy into The Book Market FXBG—a mobile bookstore that proves curation, community, and local makers can outshine any algorithm.

Katie shares how a modest inheritance from her trailblazing grandmother pushed her to stop scrolling and start building. From buying an empty trailer in August to opening by March, she and her husband navigated the nuts and bolts of construction, inventory, and a pop-up strategy that brings readers directly to small businesses across town. You’ll hear how partnerships with Gunnar Ray Monograms, Fifth Sense Candle Company, and Bayside Clay create a bookish experience that feels tactile, rooted, and distinctly local.

We also dig into the myths around big-box and online book buying. Katie explains why individualized recommendations, local author spotlights, and community events deliver more value than a lower price tag—and how Bookshop.org and Libro.fm let you buy online while still supporting indie stores. Her advice for would-be founders is refreshingly practical: skip the horror stories, call your SBDC, find a good insurance agent and accountant, and let your community help you win.

If you care about supporting local bookstores, discovering new authors, and keeping your dollars in the neighborhood, this conversation will give you a roadmap and a reason to change your next checkout. Follow The Book Market FXBG on Instagram and Facebook, track the trailer’s next stop, and share this episode with a friend who loves the smell of a new book. If you enjoyed the show, subscribe, leave a rating, and tell us which local business we should feature next.

Katie O'Mara

The Book Market FXBG

bookshop.org/shop/thebookmarketfxbg

thebookmarketfxbg@gmail.com

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors
Podcast, the place where localbusinesses and neighbors come
together.
Here's your host, Dori Stewart.

Speaker (00:13):
Welcome back to another episode of the FXBG Neighbors
Podcast, where we share thestories of our favorite local
brands.
I have a special guest joiningme today.
We have Katie O'Mara here, andshe is with the Book Market
FXBG.
Katie, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you so much for havingme.

(00:34):
Well, I'm really excited to getto know you and learn more
about the book market.
So let's start there.
Share with us a little bitabout the book market FXBG.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, so we are a mobile bookstore.
We were built inside of a16-foot custom renovated
trailer.
My husband did all of theconstruction with lots of ideas
from me.
We sell primarily new books,but we also sell a lot of
book-related accessories, likecustom-made t-shirts, crew

(01:07):
necks, candles, jewelry, totebags, anything that has anything
to do with a book.
And a lot of those are producedby other local creators in the
area.
We uh have our um apparel madeby Gunnar Ray Monograms, who's
local to Fredericksburg poorFifth Sense Candle Company in
downtown does our customcandles.
Um, we have jewelry fromBayside Clay that's a Virginia

(01:30):
creator.
So we have a bunch of localbusinesses that we also try to
bring in and feature within ourstore as well.

Speaker (01:38):
This is the coolest thing ever.
I love this so much.
I love that you are keeping itlocal and that you have local
vendors.
I love that it's mobile.
I mean, this is just such acool thing.
So tell us how tell I I want toknow about your background.
And then I also want to learnwhat made you decide to do this.

(02:00):
Tell us all about it.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah, okay.
So a little bit about mybackground.
You and you and I actually havesome things in common.
I'm actually a high schoolteacher here in the area, uh, an
English teacher, which willcome as no surprise because of
the books.
Um, but I um have always lovedto read.
Um, and like many other adults,I've spent, you know, a
significant amount of timescrolling on social media.

(02:24):
Um, and I started seeingsomeone who was doing this out
in Las Vegas.
Um incredible company calledThe Bookshelf.
Um, they built their owntrailer and I just like fell in
love with it.
I kept telling my husband, thisis the coolest idea.
Like, oh my gosh, like whydidn't I think of this?
And um, you know, I turned 40this year, and I just was like

(02:47):
looking for some personalfulfillment in my life.
Um, I love my teaching careerand I don't have any intention
to want to not teach.
And I love being a mom, but Iwas looking for something that
felt like Katie and not mom orMrs.
O'Mara.
And um, I just thought likelife is short and why not do the

(03:09):
thing you've been thinkingabout doing forever.
And simultaneously, um, the sadpart of the story is that I
lost my grandmother um aroundthis time and she left a little
bit of money for each of hergrandkids, and I was looking for
something really meaningful todo with that money.
And I was like, I don't want tojust replace my deck at my

(03:30):
house, or I wanted to dosomething that felt like she
would really love that.
She was the uh one of the firstfemales on the Fairfax County
School Board back in the day,and she was like strong
education, you know, thatinspiring woman that we kind of
all looked up to for thatgeneration, especially.
And um, all of a sudden it justfelt like this was the thing to

(03:50):
do.
Like, why not just do it?
Stop talking about it andactually do it.
And um, I guess the rest ishistory.
We purchased this empty trailerin August, and my husband was
like all in, and he werefurbished the trailer.
We opened in March, and it'sjust every weekend pretty much

(04:10):
we've been out since then.
So it's been pretty excitingand it's been a lot of work, but
like really rewarding work.

Speaker (04:17):
I love this so much.
It's I mean, it's never toolate to follow your own dream.
And you know, as moms, we youknow tend to put everybody else
first.
And so I love that you tookthat sign and you took the um,
you know, uh what happened withyour your grandmother, you

(04:39):
turned that into something thatshe would be super proud of.
And I just I just love it.
And I love that um, you know,you're bring bringing your love
of reading out into thecommunity.
So talk to me a little bitabout how it works.
So you said that you are outthere every weekend.
Where do you go?
How do you choose where you go?

(05:00):
I'd love to learn a little bitmore about the logistics of
that.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
I mean, a lot of it is building those relationships
with other local businesses.
It's something that's reallyspecial.
And um, I can't even put intowords, I didn't expect how
wonderful that part of it wasgoing to be, you know.
Um, but we've had a lot ofbusinesses be excited about what
we're doing and see the benefitto themselves and to us to have

(05:24):
us come pop up, you know, ourour customers who kind of follow
us around, then get to visittheir business.
And um we get to introducetheir customers to some of what
we have to offer too.
Um, so some of it isinvitation.
We love when businesses reachout to us and say, Hey, we'd
love for you to come out and dothis.
Some of it is just, you know,like any entrepreneur, like

(05:45):
hitting the ground searching andlooking for events and things
that would be a good fit for us.
Um, so it's been a little bitof both.
Um, and uh that that businessconnection though has been
really, really special to us.

Speaker (05:58):
Yeah, yeah.
But and you get you both getbenefit out of it.
And so I really love I lovethat the synergy there.
Yeah, me too.
So let me ask you this.
Do you find that there are anymyths or misconceptions about
your business?

Speaker 3 (06:14):
I mean, I think I'm gonna speak probably more
towards like the book industryin general, um, because we're
sort of like a mobile bookstoreis not a super common concept at
this point for there to be alot of misconceptions.
But um I and I think some ofthe our local booksellers or
independent stores inFredericksburg might agree with
some of this, but this idea thatlike big chains and online

(06:37):
retailers can do it better.
And I think that's justcouldn't be further from the
truth.
Um, a lower price onlinedoesn't always equal a better
experience.
And we really relish that roleof giving personal
recommendations, searching fortitles that our customers have
been looking for and can't find,curating our selection, um,

(06:59):
bringing in local authors.
That's something I'm reallypassionate about.
Um, you know, we first I thinkgot introduced through uh
Jacqueline Diamico, who iswonderful.
We could do a whole podcast.
I could talk about her for 15minutes, honestly.
Um, but also Kate Cunningham,Eris Marriott.
We've had a ton of localauthors that have been really um
instrumental to us, you know,building our following.

(07:22):
And that's something that youdon't see in a big box store or
in any of these onlineretailers.
So I think there's a lot to besaid about local and independent
booksellers and what they canoffer to a reader who's looking
for an experience and not just acheapest price.

Speaker (07:39):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
And you're small enough thatyou know you can give that
personal touch and people canget to know you.
You're part of the community,you know?
Yeah, totally.
So let me ask you this.
If someone were to come to youand tell you about their crazy
wild dream of starting thisbusiness, what advice would you

(08:02):
give them?

Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Um, I would say don't be afraidto try something different,
even if there's no one elsedoing it, because sometimes that
can be intimidating.
Like, I don't have anybody toask about how to do this because
this is different than anythingI've seen.
Um, and maybe don't believe thehorror stories.
There are so many people whoare willing to help someone who

(08:25):
has an idea.
Um, we received a lot of helpfrom the Small Business
Development Center at MaryWashington.
Um, they had like a freeconsultation there that really
helped us like make a list oflike what are the first things
we need to do in order to do itright?
Um, finding an insurance agentto help you, finding um a tax

(08:46):
accountant.
Those people like made such abig difference for us.
Um, and I think you don't haveto go into it alone when you
have a good idea.
You have a team of people thatyou can call on that want to see
your business flourish.
Like we're in a community thatwants to see small business um
grow.
And there are a lot of peoplein that community ready to help.

Speaker (09:07):
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
I think that it's just soimportant to just ask for help.
There, it's just um we are I Ilove the Frederick business
community.
It's so giving and everyone isso supportive.
And so I love that advice, justtapping into the resources that
are available around you.
I love that.

(09:27):
So clearly you're very busy.
You're a teacher, you're doingthis on the weekends, so I need
to know when you're not working,what are you doing for fun?

Speaker 3 (09:38):
I mean, it will come as no surprise to anyone that
like my primary hobby isreading.
Um, like, I mean, I I was umthinking about like when people
ask you what your hobbies are,and I'm like, well, reading,
running my mobile bookstore,like teaching English, they're
all in the same world, right?

(09:58):
Um, but I love to read.
Obviously, I've constantly gota physical book and an audiobook
going at the same time.
Um, I mean, of course, I lovehanging with my family.
We love to travel.
Um, and that's kind of a goalfor our family is being able to
take our kids on adventures andexperiences, not things.
So um that's part of thewrapped into this business idea

(10:20):
too, is like what can I bring,what can I experiences can I
bring to my kids?

Speaker (10:23):
Yeah, yeah, and what a great role model you are.
Thank you.
That's very nice of you to say.
Yeah, yeah.
No, it's big.
It's big for them to see theirmom dreaming big and making it
happen, and for them to watchyou through all of that, that's
that's really big for your kidsto see.
Thank you.
I love that.

(10:44):
So, what is something that youwish the listeners knew about
your business?

Speaker 3 (10:51):
Hmm, okay.
So I think that a lot of peopledon't understand how many
alternatives there are out thereto um, you know, we talked a
little bit earlier about onlineretailers.
Um we um offer a lot of thesimilar options that a lot of
the online retailers offer.
Um, we're partnered with anorganization called

(11:12):
bookshop.org, and they umpartner with independent local
bookstores to offer the purchaseof online books as well as
ebooks.
And so I know a lot of peoplejust don't know there's another
option, right?
Um and uh we also partner withLibro, um and they are an
audiobook provider who alsopairs with local bookshops.

(11:34):
Both of those organizations uhgive a portion of the proceeds
back to that local independentbusiness, which then comes back
into our local economy.
So um if you are someone who islooking for a way to support
local and maybe break some ofthose habits of supporting these
billionaires, um, there areoptions.

(11:55):
And this isn't just unique tous.
Um, I know I think both of thelocal um downtown bookstores
also offer uh these as an optionas well.
It's something we really wantthe community to be aware of
that um there are small littlethings we can do to get that
money right back into our localcommunity.

Speaker (12:13):
Very cool.
I'm so glad you shared thatbecause I didn't know that.
Yeah, absolutely.
That's amazing.
So if the listeners want toconnect with you, if they want
to see where you're gonna benext or follow your journey,
where can they find you?

Speaker 3 (12:29):
So the best ways to find us are on social media.
Um, we're on Instagram andFacebook at the bookmarketfxbg.
Um if they are interested inhaving us come out like to a
local business, um, we um lovethat.
So encourage those localbusinesses that you think we'd
be a good fit for to reach outto us.
Um you can also find us onbookshop at bookshop.org slash

(12:53):
the bookmarket fxbg.
And uh same thing with Libro.
It's Libro.fm slash thebookmarket FXBG.

Speaker (13:01):
Amazing.
Katie, thank you so much forjoining me on the podcast today
and sharing the book market withus.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
Well, we just love what you are doing, um,
highlighting these localbusinesses.
Um, it's one of the things thatwe think makes Fredericksburg
so great is this community ofsmall businesses.
So thank you for what you do tosupport all of us.

Speaker (13:22):
Aw, thank you.
I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg
Neighbors Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to FXBGNeighborsPodcast.com.
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