{"id":85376,"date":"2026-05-16T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=85376"},"modified":"2026-05-15T20:27:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T02:27:57","slug":"this-bookstore-gets-good-mileage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/this-bookstore-gets-good-mileage\/","title":{"rendered":"This bookstore gets good mileage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"This<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rita Collins\u2019s white Ford transit van has more than 100,000 miles on it, earned on drives through all but 10 of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parked in front of The Grand Bakery in Dadeville, Ala., on a recent cloudy morning, she watched as a woman walked by, glanced at the van, did a double take, and hesitated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bookstore,\u201d Collins said with her big, characteristic smile. \u201cYou can go inside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh my Satan!\u201d the woman exclaimed. \u201cI\u2019m a fool for books!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saint Rita\u2019s Amazing Traveling Bookstore Textual Apothecary (its name painted on the sides and back of the van) is a vehicle for the cross-pollination of people and conversation. That\u2019s what has evolved since Collins, now 74, began imagining her retirement dream more than a decade ago \u2014 not just selling high quality, inexpensive books, but setting her love of people, places and the wonders of a good read all in motion together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years Collins taught, opened a bakery\/cafe and did social-services work for older adults. She left the United States after 9\/11, and eventually taught English in Romania and the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 60, she said, she decided it was time to return and figure out her next steps. She took a course with the American Booksellers Association, seeking to learn what it would take to open a bookstore in Eureka, the small Montana town where she lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately she decided that Eureka didn\u2019t have the adult population to support an independent bookstore. Nor did she have the desire to be tethered to a brick-and-mortar business six days a week, impinging on her love of travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still determined to figure out how to share her passion for reading with those in far-flung places, perhaps without their own bookshops, she brainstormed with friends, googled traveling bookstores and got advice from the owner of the only one she could find, located in Swansea, Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013 her dream became a reality with a minimal investment: a van fitted with wooden shelves at a 15 degree angle so that the 700-book inventory stays in place while she motors around the United States. (Think a library bookmobile that goes well beyond a neighborhood or two.) She named it after Saint Rita, the patron saint of impossible causes. Large enough for two adults to peruse the varied selections at the same time, it has the magical, cozy feeling of a grown-up playhouse. It\u2019s not uncommon to find children sprawled on the rug, deep in a picture book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each year Collins picks a region, plans a precise itinerary and sets up in all sorts of locations: farmers\u2019 markets, festivals, brew pubs, museums and birthday parties, among them. She has been invited to speak to church congregations and book clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While all the books are donated, Collins curates to be sure the ones on sale are in excellent condition. Hardcovers are $9 apiece, paperbacks $7, children\u2019s books a dollar. There are sections for art and music, spirituality, travel, fiction, health, cooking, writing and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is so often asked what her favorite book is \u2014 and has such difficulty answering \u2014 that there is a section titled \u201cFavs\u201d for her own ever-changing choices. During this year\u2019s five-week swing through the South, it showcased books by Anne Michaels, Ann Patchett, Willa Cather, Atul Gawande, M.L Stedman and Anthony Doerr, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her journeys people frequently give her books, replenishing her stock, though the exchanges can go both ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., Collins gifted a copy of Kristin Hannah\u2019s \u201cThe Great Alone,\u201d to Pat Ammons, the center\u2019s director of communications, to thank her for having the bookstore there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ammons protested, then relented. \u201cI will bring you books in exchange. Paper will rain down,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collins does not sleep in the bookstore, but stays mostly in people\u2019s homes, with friends or friends of friends. Sometimes she is hosted by complete strangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike other bookstores, hers offers the singular advantage of one-on-one service for each customer. And the books are just the starting point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy work is talking to people,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you come, you\u2019re probably going to have a conversation with me. It has allowed me to meet so many different kinds of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A natural extrovert, Collins feels enriched by sharing stories of her adventures and learning about the lives of those in places unfamiliar to her. Once, in Colorado, a woman who had no money gave her two dozen eggs in exchange for some books. Recently, in Raleigh, N.C., a woman showed up with a gold-framed, 100-year-old lithograph of St. Rita and insisted she accept it as a gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking photos with Collins is a given, but sometimes the appreciation goes further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThanks for bringing joy,\u201d Shannon Milliman said after Collins stopped outside the Singin\u2019 River Brewing Co. in Florence, Ala. Milliman, the town\u2019s poet laureate, wrote a poem on the spot and recited it to those gathered outside the van, saying of Collins:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe sells cookbooks, spirituality, Einstein, old Ulysses Grant. Like an old-timey medicine woman. She\u2019s got what ails you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a moment of nostalgia when you pulled up and opened your door,\u201d Caty Stokes told Collins in the parking lot of the space center. \u201cThat\u2019s what it felt like as a kid growing up in the country among cow fields when the bookmobile would come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there are library bookmobiles and other bookstores housed in trucks \u2014 and more food trucks than ever \u2014 Collins believes hers is the rare traveling bookstore. She wishes there were more, pointing out that there is little overhead and a lot of freedom to open and close at will. When she\u2019s not on the road the van is simply parked in her driveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just me deciding where I\u2019m going to set up,\u201d she said. \u201cI can decide if the weather sucks I\u2019m going to close early or, this is a great crowd, I\u2019ll stay here longer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a big market out there,\u201d she added. \u201cI\u2019m one person with one van and I can\u2019t do the whole United States. I mean, I try, but I can\u2019t do it all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n