Joyride Bookshop, a children's bookstore that debuted as a mobile pop-up in summer 2021, has opened a physical location inside the New San Diego Children's Museum in the city's downtown, the San Diego Business Journal reported.
Bookstore co-owners Katie Turner and Susie Horn have taken over a 350-square-foot space on the museum's main level. The shop, called Joyride Bookshop @ NCM, will be open six days a week and sell diverse and inclusive children's books as well as a variety of gift items.
The bookstore first partnered with the museum last summer during its Mass Creativity Day, and after several more partnerships over the following months, museum CEO and executive director Elizabeth Yang-Hellewell approached Horn and Turner about taking over the museum's gift shop.
"It's a partnership that makes so much sense given our shared commitment to good storytelling," Horn told the SDBJ.
Though Turner and Horn have known each other since 2012, it wasn't until late 2019 that they first discussed opening a bookstore together. At a holiday party that year, Turner "made an offhand comment about how wonderful it would be to own a children's bookstore someday," she recalled. "Susie's eyes opened wide and she said it was her dream too."
Though they initially intended to open a bricks-and-mortar bookstore, the pair quickly realized that a mobile bookstore would better help them fulfill their mission. They took virtual classes and workshops with both the American Booksellers Association and the San Diego and Imperial Valley Women's Business Association, and eventually made their debut in 2021.
Since then, they've partnered with the nonprofits Caffè Caritàzza and Reading Legacies, as well as the Mingei International Museum. Last November, they began subleasing a space from Reading Legacies in Liberty Station.
Yang-Hellewell added that it was her five-year-old son who initially suggested bringing Joyride into the museum. She remarked: "Kids have the best ideas."