Spellbound Books brings big stories to a small space in Eagle Mountain
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- The outside of Spellbound Books, a new mobile bookstore in Eagle Mountain, is photographed Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
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- Spellbound Books owner Liz Moore is shown behind the counter placing a book inside of a bag for customer Aubrey Skinner on Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
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- Books sit on a shelf inside Spellbound Books, a new mobile bookstore in Eagle Mountain, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
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- A line of customers is shown outside of Spellbound Books, a new mobile bookstore in Eagle Mountain, on Saturday, July 5, 2025.
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- Spellbound Books owner Liz Moore works behind the counter Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
A new bookstore has landed in Eagle Mountain, but it’s not your typical book merchant.
Spellbound Books is a mobile bookstore housed in an enclosed trailer.
The bookmobile’s checkered exterior design is hard to miss as one drives by the corner of Highway 73 and Ranches Parkway, where it sits in the parking lot outside of Direct Communications.
Liz Moore, owner of Spellbound Books, said she was an avid reader in her younger years. As a teenager, she gravitated toward romance and fantasy titles.
But as Moore got older, it became more difficult to keep up with her passion for books.
“Once I got married and had kids, reading kind of took a back (seat). I wasn’t able to do it as much as I had liked,” she said.
Moore said prior to opening the bookmobile, she had been battling anxiety and depression, on top of working at a job that she was no longer fulfilled with.
“So I took a little break from that job and just spent a month reading,” she told the Daily Herald. “And it really got me out of the funk; it got me excited again.”
She returned to her job after a brief time away, but Moore couldn’t ignore her restored enthusiasm for books and the desire to share that love with others.
“I tried going back to the other job, and was just feeling so not excited,” she said. “And then when I finally was like, I’m just gonna start the bookstore, I felt so good. It’s just completely changed the way I feel, and I owe it all to books.”
But finding a place to open and operate a bookstore wasn’t necessarily an easy feat, especially for a new business owner.
“I mean, I really wanted to open up some sort of bookstore, but rent is just crazy and so expensive, especially for a small business,” Moore said.
The idea for a book trailer seemed a bit more realistic, but Moore didn’t want to waste any time getting the business up and running.
So as she and her husband worked to secure a trailer and transform it into a mobile bookstore, Moore started running the business from their Eagle Mountain home for a short time.
She credits her family for supporting her dream and their help with getting the new business rolling.
“My husband is the one who pretty much built the whole trailer out, along with some friends and some family that have helped,” Moore said. “So I’ve had a good support system in getting us started.”
And on Saturday, Moore was met by dozens of fellow book enthusiasts when Spellbound Books opened its new bookmobile.
“We had an hourlong wait in the line on the grand opening day, which was really exciting,” she said.
The response, she said, was not expected, but Moore feels confident that the cozy, welcoming feel of the space will keep people coming back.
Inside the 7-by-16 foot trailer offers a wide range of new and used books across popular genres such as romance, fantasy and thriller titles — as well as merchandise and what Moore calls “bookish treats.”
Moore said people can also order selections that are not in stock.
“I’m really on-demand to whatever people want, so I think that that’s a positive,” she said.
Spellbound Books has seemingly rolled into business at a time where indie and national chain booksellers are seeing a resurgence of consumers.
Book sales rose 6.5% in 2024 after two years of declines, according to Publisher’s Weekly.
Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok have also played a role in the uptick, due to the rise of book influencers, who have helped inspire people to visit bookstores again.
In the case of mobile bookstores like Spellbound Books, it provides a sense of convenience and accessibility in various communities. It also allows owners like Moore to meet customers where they are at different events and locations.
“I can go to other people, like I have an author that reached out (and) wants me to go to her book retreat, so I can go there and do events for authors and things like that,” Moore said.
Spellbound Books is located at 3726 E. Campus Drive in Eagle Mountain. You can also connect with the business online at linktr.ee/spellbound_books.
