Well Read Bookstore hosted its grand opening celebration on August 28 at 241 SE Main St. in Lee's Summit, Mo. The Kansas City Star reported that owner Anna Buser launched her "dream" bookstore in a familiar downtown storefront, the former location of KD's Books, which had moved earlier this summer to 207 SE 3rd St.
Buser, who grew up in the area, was adamant that the storefront needed to remain a bookshop: "It's been a dream since I was a kid. So when the other store decided to move, we were like, 'This has to stay a bookstore. It's been at this location, I've been coming here since I was five.' "
Once she and her husband, Bryan Buser, got the keys to the storefront in May they began renovations, which included repainting the walls and ripping out five layers of flooring in the 1890 building.
"We were like, how can we have like a smoking lounge meets a slightly strange antique mall," Anna Buser said about the finished space, which sells books and book-themed gifts. There is also a room that will eventually become a space for events and can be rented by anyone in the community.
Behind the POS table, which was constructed with reclaimed wood from the building, is "a designated children's section featuring an old train set that locals may remember playing with," the Star wrote.
"My mom would be perusing books, and I'd be at the train table. Forever I was like, 'Can I have a wooden train set for Christmas?' every year," Buser recalled. She obtained the train set from KD's Books original owner, Cheryl Collier, who had been storing it in her basement. Buser hopes to continue Collier's legacy through her new store.
"She just had this way of connecting with people, and she cared so much. Like when I was a kid and I would bring in my books, because she did trades, and she would look at me and go, 'Okay, Anna, you have $5,'" Buser said. "Her heart for the community was huge."