The Lazy Daisy Bookshop

The Lazy Daisy Bookshop makes more sense when you start with how it began: inside a tiny 1971 Sprite Caravan.

The Lazy Daisy Bookshop in Jacksonville, NC is an independent new-and-used bookstore that grew from a weekend mobile shop into a brick-and-mortar gathering place on Chaney Avenue. Owner Kristen Rochelle launched the caravan in February 2023, then opened a storefront, then moved again when the shop needed more room for books, drinks, and events.

Today it is part bookstore, part Sip Shoppe, and part reminder that a small local idea can grow when people decide they want to be part of it.

For anyone exploring things to do in Jacksonville NC, looking for an independent bookstore in Onslow County, or wanting a reason to stay awhile with a book and a drink, Lazy Daisy is worth adding to the list.

There is something fitting about a bookstore beginning as a traveling story of its own.

The original Lazy Daisy was a 1971 Sprite Caravan camper. Kristen took it around Onslow County on weekends, setting up at coffee shops, festivals, and local events rather than waiting for customers to find a permanent storefront.

Jacksonville was already home. Kristen’s biography notes that she was raised in a military family and has called Jacksonville home for about 30 years.

By August 2024, The Lazy Daisy Bookshop had enough momentum to move from camper to storefront. The first brick-and-mortar location opened on Yopp Road, giving readers a place to browse throughout the week instead of catching the caravan at its next stop.

The Yopp Road chapter did not last long.

In late 2025, Lazy Daisy moved from 521 Yopp Road into a larger space at 420 Chaney Avenue, Suite 2101. Leaving the first shop was bittersweet, but the move was part of a longer-term plan to give the business more room.

In less than three years, the business went from a 1971 camper traveling around Onslow County, to its first Jacksonville storefront, to a larger bookstore with room for drinks, events, book clubs, gifts, and a growing reader community.

The current shop is located at 420 Chaney Avenue, Suite 2101, Jacksonville, NC 28540.

Lazy Daisy is an independent new-and-used bookstore with a strong identity around fiction, romance, fantasy, and romantasy — the blend of romance and fantasy that has built a substantial readership of its own.

Along with books, visitors can find bookish gifts and accessories, locally made items, journals, artwork, and other finds that make the store work as well for browsing as it does for walking in with a specific title in mind. The online shop regularly features new releases, signed local-author books, book journals, and handcrafted goods from local makers.

The store’s stated mission goes beyond putting books on shelves. Lazy Daisy describes its goal as bringing joy to readers while building an engaging community that also supports other local small businesses.

One of the biggest additions at the Chaney Avenue shop is the Sip Shoppe.

When plans for the expanded store were announced, the beverage counter was envisioned around non-alcoholic drinks such as coffee, lemonade, and sodas. Since opening, dirty sodas and coffee have become part of the shop’s current offerings.

You can still stop in, find a book, and head home. Lazy Daisy has also built the store around reasons to stay a little longer — browse the shelves, grab a drink, talk books, or come back for an event.

That is the difference between simply operating a retail store and creating a place people have a reason to revisit.

Events have become a major part of The Lazy Daisy Bookshop.

The shop has hosted local and visiting author signings, special book releases, themed gatherings, workshops, and multiple book clubs. A March 2026 book-club schedule, for example, included separate discussions for romantasy, literary fiction, mystery/thriller, and young adult books.

Jacksonville Tourism’s event calendar has also featured author appearances and other Lazy Daisy events, including signings by independent and traditionally published authors.

Independent bookstores tend to be at their best when the shelves are only part of the reason people walk through the door. At Lazy Daisy, the calendar has increasingly become part of the business.

Regular bookstore events are only one side of what Kristen and the Lazy Daisy team have been building.

Through Lazy Daisy Events, the bookstore has expanded into larger, immersive experiences aimed especially at fantasy and romantasy readers. The first Starfall Masquerade was held in May 2025. That was followed by the Frostbound Ball in Jacksonville in January 2026, with books, authors, themed entertainment, vendors, and an evening built around the kind of fantasy worlds readers normally experience on the page.

The event team describes the idea as creating both everyday book experiences and the occasional once-in-a-lifetime event.

That programming also has a literacy piece. Lazy Daisy Events has partnered its ticket model with support for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Onslow County. According to the event organization, part of qualifying ticket proceeds is directed toward funding a year of monthly books for a local child, with The Lazy Daisy Bookshop matching the other portion. Additional donations go to One Place, which administers local support for the program.

When people search for shopping in Jacksonville NC, they want locally owned stores, gifts, and places that feel connected to the community — not only chain retail.

The Lazy Daisy Bookshop offers an independent bookstore in Jacksonville, a Sip Shoppe for coffee and dirty sodas, book clubs and author events, and a story that started with a camper on the road in Onslow County.

For residents, visitors, PCS households, and people exploring Onslow County, Lazy Daisy is one of those local businesses worth knowing about.

The Lazy Daisy Bookshop is located at 420 Chaney Avenue, Suite 2101 in Jacksonville, NC.

Posted hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 AM–6:00 PM and Sunday noon–5:00 PM, with Monday closed. Hours and event schedules can change, so check The Lazy Daisy Bookshop website or social pages before a special trip.