Local camper dealership Nook Overland is set to expand into a new building at Millworks, which will be built later this year. Nook owners Dani and Mike Mortell (shown at left) said they’re looking forward to nearly doubling the size of their showroom to accommodate more campers. To the right of the couple is Nook employee Daniel Ford, and below is the four-legged camper ambassador, Granger. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Millworks update— More space for more campers at Nook Overland
- Published: June 23, 2025
Not even a full year of business and already Nook Overland, the village’s only modular camper dealership, is set to expand in the coming months.
Owned by Yellow Springs newcomers and longtime “van-lifers,” Mike and Dani Mortell, Nook Overland’s operations have outgrown their 4,750-square-foot building in the Millworks Industrial Park, the couple told the News last week.
To accommodate the booming camper business, Millworks owner and village resident Allison Moody plans to move Nook Overland into a new 9,000-square-foot building — one Moody aims to erect by the end of this year in the northern quadrant of the industrial park.
Construction of the building will be coupled with the creation and paving of additional public parking at Millworks, as well as landscaping along Yellow Springs-Fairfield Road and added utility access for some of Moody’s other 14 commercial tenants.
The Mortells said this new space will allow the camper business to diversify the kinds and brands of campers they offer — most of which are Scout brand, which affix to the beds of trucks, and can be outfitted with camping and traveling amenities, such as mini-fridges, sleeping spaces and gear storage.
For the Mortells, more space means more campers.
“There are nine campers here, right now,” Mike Mortell, gesturing around the current showroom. “But we’ve had up to 16. That’s required us to move everything around and put [campers] in our main aisleway.”
“It’s like playing Tetris,” his partner, Dani, added with a laugh.
The camper business has been kind to the Mortells since their Yellow Springs grand opening last July. When the News last spoke with the couple, they had only a handful of sales on the books.
“But by the end of 2024, we had 18 campers leave the shop,” Mike Mortell said. “This year, we’re already close to 20. By the end of the month, 30 will be out the door. So, I expect we’ll be up to 50 by year’s end.”
Campers, according to Mike Mortell, typically range in price from $20,000–$35,000, with prices increasing depending on how extensively they’re outfitted.
Some of Nook Overland’s success over the last year, the couple said, can be attributed to the geographic monopoly they have on Scout campers; Nook Overland is the only purveyor of that brand of camper in the Midwest, with the nearest two in New Hampshire and Colorado.
Having cornered the regional market, the Mortells said their operations in Yellow Springs have insulated them from declining RV and modular van-related sales, which have gone down since the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic — when, as the Mordells explained, would-be customers worked remotely and craved outdoor experiences.
“We’re still below the national average, but for us, we’re still growing,” Dani Mortell said.
The couple said they had considered setting up their new shop in the Village-owned Center for Business and Education, but decided to stay put in Millworks. The proximity to the downtown commercial business district and the adjacent bike path have been big attractions for their customers, the Mortells said.
“And we don’t want to grow too much,” Mike Mortell added. “We don’t want to be a Camping World with over 80 RVs in a parking lot. We like being inside and having a smaller feel; by getting too big, we’ll lose the personal touch that people seem to like.”
The plan is to break ground on the new building in the coming months, with possible completion by the year’s end.
The Mortells said they intend to maintain a similar layout for their business in the new space — with much of the area devoted to their camper dealership’s showroom, a back area for mechanical repairs and maintenance, new offices and additional lounging space for customers and visitors to the village.
“The vast majority of our customers are from out of state,” Mike Mortell said. “Very few have ever heard of Yellow Springs before, but they come here, drop off or pick up their camper, and spend some time exploring the community.”
He continued: “That’s one of the biggest benefits we’ve brought to Yellow Springs: We bring people here. They stay here, spend their money here, go camping. I remember one customer who came through for a solar panel. She said she was in a hurry to get from New York to Oregon, but I saw her truck in town for almost a week.”
While the Mortells’ business model will stay the same in the new space Moody aims to build — with Village Planning Commission having granted approval at their most recent meeting, June 10 — what will change is the couple’s brand.
Nook Overland is set to be renamed Lark Overland by the end of the month.
The Mortells said a California company — Nook Vans — sent them a cease-and-desist letter earlier this year, claiming the Mortells had infringed on a trademark. After working with their attorney, the Mortells decided to rebrand rather than go down a litigious route.
“‘Lark’ is more us anyway,” Dani Mortell said. “With our campers, you can go out ‘larking around’ or ‘go on a lark’ on your adventures.”
Ahead of their move across the Millworks Industrial Park’s lot, Lark Overland will host an open house, as well as a Scout-brand camp-out at John Bryan State Park.
In the meantime, the Mortells invite Yellow Springs and area residents to stop by their current Millworks space and say, “Hi.”
“We’re not pushy sales people, and we’re not going to send you home with a camper if you don’t want one,” Mike Mortell said. “We love when people walk by and just happen to come in and check us out. Come on in. Learn more about what we do.”
Millworks owner Allison Moody is seeking a tenant for her only vacant space — this 1940s-era quonset hut — in the Millworks industrial park. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
More changes at Millworks
Lark Overland isn’t the only one growing: The whole of Millworks is set to be improved over the coming year, owner Moody told the News.
“I’m really thrilled for [the Mortells’] expansion — they’re able to bring new people to the village and have a wider impact on the local economy — and it’s this expansion that’s driving the biggest investment I’ve made on the property to date,” Moody said.
Beyond building a new 9,000-square-foot facility for Lark Overland’s camper business, which will abut Yellow Springs-Fairfield Road, Moody’s upcoming development plans include expanding some ingresses into the complex, and creating around 65 new public parking spaces, and about a dozen new tenant parking spaces.
By linking Lark’s new building to municipal water and sewer connections, Moody also aims to connect other tenants to those utilities. Additionally, she plans to establish a pollinator garden along Fairfield Road, as well as erect sustainable retention walls between her property and the road to mitigate runoff and help the Village connect neighboring sidewalks to the adjacent bike path.
“For the first time, this is going to be an attractive gateway to town,” Moody said. “It’s the first property you see coming south on the bike trail. The goal is to create an intentional visual experience that blends industrial and natural elements. We want it to be inviting for everyone.”
Since purchasing the four-acre industrial park at 305 N. Walnut St. for $1.5 million in early 2021, Moody has paved the gravel drive into the complex, which leads to Yellow Spring Brewery, and has facilitated the rotation of tenants — most notably, the exit of EnviroFlight in 2022, when the sustainable agriculture company moved operations to southern states.
“It’s been really neat to see the complex evolve, especially since EnviroFlight left and we’ve gotten so many new tenants in their space,” Moody said. “It’s taken shape in new ways and has become more accessible to the public.”
Currently, 14 tenants hold space at Millworks: Yellow Springs Brewery; Tuck-N-Red’s Spirits & Wine; Yellow Springs Bakery’s production kitchen; Yellow Springs Home, Inc.; Nuke’s Warehouse & Truitt Fitness; Studio Uncommon; Sculpture Emporium; Heather Horton Counseling; Lark Overland; Blue Sky Technologies; YS Scooter; Village Solar and Spencer Building Group.
Only one of Moody’s buildings is vacant — a 1940s-era quonset hut nestled between the brewery’s back production space and Village Solar’s workshop. Most recently, the quonset hut was EnviroFlight’s “kill room,” where the company would cook soldier fly larvae in high-heat drum dryers.
Moody is in talks with potential tenants for this space, all of whom she said are interested in turning it into a customer-facing retail or service industry business. To accommodate those designs, Moody plans to pave some of the grassy area that abuts the bike path, and establish patio seating for patrons.
Across town, in the western reaches of Yellow Springs, Moody is still working as the Village’s listing agent for the available land in the Center for Business and Education, or CBE.
Around 20 acres of the 35-acre, Village-owned land have been for sale for over a decade.
As the News previously reported, Moody took the reins from the Village in late 2023 to market the land to find suitable light-industrial businesses to join marijuana producer Cresco Labs and Antioch University Midwest on the CBE.
Moody told the News she has been in discussions with some interested parties over the last year, but none of them have been successful in financing construction. Still, she and the Village are keeping their ears to the ground for any would-be new business that could provide local residents with reliable, well-paying jobs.
“If we got one more business the size of Cresco, that would make a tangible difference in our local economy and the number of people who can live the Yellow Springs dream,” Moody said.
She continued: “We’re looking for mid-sized manufacturers — the kinds of businesses that offer consistent jobs at different levels, businesses with longevity that add to our income base and, ideally, align with our Village values.”
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