Our Story

I have loved books and used bookstores all my life.

For as long as I can remember, books have been my escape, my delight and my companion.

Readers are a special breed.

I have worked as a bookseller for a Big Box Store, a stay-at-home parent, a Barista, a Social Worker at a Pregnancy Centre, an Adoptions Worker, and a Foster Parent. When we stopped Fostering, I felt tremendous loss and my heart needed some comfort - I turned to books and a local bookstore. It was at this point that I began to resurrect an idea that has been brewing in my mind for many years: a mobile used bookshop. This always seemed like a bizarre notion, because I looked around and saw nothing like this... until I heard a podcast one day that reminded me "just because it doesn't already exist doesn't mean it SHOULDN'T exist", and I began researching the mobile bookshop idea.

I loved discovering that my idea is actually an old one, when traveling peddlers would come into villages and towns in a horse-drawn wagon to sell their wares... and bookmobiles were borne out a desire to share books with people who were far from local libraries. This made my heart beat faster. These were my people.

Why do we have to pay so much for books? Why do we settle for a click and delivery shopping experience when we could connect with other humans, and share our love for books? How can I blend my love for community with my love for stories? How can I inspire others to expect something more personal from their book shopping experience? 

I had the answer:

A Bookshop on WHEELS.

Thanks to the remarkable generosity of my husband, Mark, who has a DBA and speaks the language of Business and Technology, we decided "Let's just go for it!". Our young adult daughters stood back, wondering what the heck has happened to their predictable parents.

We began collecting inventory, bought the truck, and began to get ridiculously excited about creating an opportunity to share books with readers in the Edmonton area who wanted a whimsical and innovative way to do something they had been doing on autopilot for years: book shopping.

So, we did it. 

And THEN we opened a bookstore because we realized that each time we rolled into a community, we were also rolling AWAY from others, and it was hard to reach all the readers who were eager to support the booktruck and be part of our Daisy Chain Book Co. community. Community is the heart of everything we do. Leaving them and not having roots didn't suit our people anymore.

Then in 2022 we grew by more than 1600 ft by opening a second location in Beaumont, an area we have been serving with the booktruck since our earliest days. When I discovered they were without a bookstore, I had to remedy that.

Our bookstores are a hybrid of new and previously owned books in a fun and refreshing retro-environment that is creating a community of readers for YEG & Beaumont in a bold, new way. We are dedicated to "Creating a Community of Readers". These bookstores are FOR YOU. We can't wait to see you walk through our doors.

What's next in our story? Stay tuned to find out...

Love,

Brandi