DRAPER, Utah — If you ever need a book recommendation, sisters Randi Rose and Kayleigh Dixon are the perfect gals to ask.
"Our typical first question is like: 'Have you read A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas?'" Rose said.
If the answer is no, The Book Box is the right place for you. If the answer is yes, The Book Box is also the right place for you. All you need is a desire to read.
"All over Instagram, all over TikTok, people are starting to read again and everyone who reads wants to talk about it. They want to talk about what they're reading or what they want to read," said Dixon.
The two sisters started The Book Box as a mobile bookstore in March. The trailer is currently stationed at the Traverse Outlets.
"Kayleigh has always wanted to own a bookstore since she was really little, and I recently fell back in love with reading," Rose said.
"A bookstore seemed like a lot, so we did the trailer first and the response was so overwhelmingly positive that we were like, 'We can do this,'" Dixon added.
Now just three months later, the stars aligned for them to open their first storefront in Draper off 12300 South.
"We noticed that a lot of bookstores are populated in Salt Lake County, which is amazing, right around Salt Lake City, and then you obviously have Poppy Books who we absolutely love in Spanish Fork, and this was right in the middle," Rose said.
At the book box you can find anything from fantasy to romance to horror. If you want to take a chance you can even go on a blind date with a book.
"We all get into reading slumps so if you don't really know what to read it's a great way you walk up you look you pick the genre, it gives a few hints, and then you pick a blind book and then you open it and it's like a little gift to yourself," Dixon said.
This small independent bookstore is exactly what book lovers like Sheila Mallett and Chalise Gaudio say they needed — even if their wallets might disagree.
"Everything's too tempting," Mallett said.
"I went to The Book Box at Traverse quite a bit, so seeing that this one was coming, I was ecstatic," Gaudio said. "I think both of us would rather support small independent bookshops than the big box stores."
Dixon and Rose describe their bookstore as a book club for the "Scholastic Fair babies." After a much-needed vacation, the sisters say the next chapter for their business is going to be all about making it as fun as possible.
"We're really excited to get into events, book clubs, author signings, things like that where we can bring more of the community together," Dixon said.
The Book Box is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 10-3.
