For one Shawnee Mission North High School student, the start of a new school year could mean the beginning of a new chapter in more ways than one.
In addition to being a student about to start her sophomore year, Halley Vincent also owns and operates Seven Stories, an independent bookstore nestled in downtown Shawnee.
With the store’s continued growth since its opening, Vincent knew she’d eventually want to expand the shop. But that may be coming sooner than planned.
The building at 11109 Johnson Dr. in which Seven Stories is located recently came under new ownership, and Vincent now plans to move out, hopefully within the next few months.
She’s launched a fundraising effort to help pay for a relocation.
“I now find myself in the unenviable position that every business with a lease agreement fears,” Vincent wrote in her fundraising summary, “my store is in need to relocate.”
Currently, Vincent’s online appeal has a goal of $26,700, money she says will go to help pay for two months’ rent during a transition, as well as funds for new signage, more bookcases and other improvements to a new shop, wherever that may be.
CityWide Electric, the new Shawnee-based owners of the Johnson Drive building, did not respond to the Post’s multiple requests for comment for this story.
Seven Stories opened on Johnson Drive last year
- The store operates out of a space next to the Masonic Lodge, off Johnson Drive and Nieman Road.
- J.C. Barbershop previously occupied that space, before moving next door.
- Seven Stories is temporarily closed until Aug. 22. Once it reopens, it will operate from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.
Seven Stories is a joint venture between mother and daughter
Vincent opened Seven Stories less than a year ago.
Her mother Alisha Vincent co-owns the shop and oversees day-to-day operations while Halley is at school.
The shop offers books in a wide range of genres for all age groups and multiple languages. It also offers art and gift items like greeting cards and posters.
Seven Stories also frequently hosts events with local authors.
Vincent said the store had a great first winter in its downtown Shawnee space, and an even better spring, so finding out a move might be in the store’s immediate future felt like a dramatic shift.
As of now, the store is on a month-to-month lease. While a lot of aspects are currently up in the air, Vincent said she’d like to nail down a potential new home for the store within the next three to six months.
“I started out with a really small space, and this is still small — this is 400 square feet,” she said. “I think there’s a lot more I could do, and a lot of things that my community would like to see me do, but I just don’t have the space for it.”
This is not Seven Stories’ first storefront
Vincent’s journey as a bookseller goes back nearly two years — stemming from a fundraising effort that would become Paws Up KC, a nonprofit organization supporting animal shelters.
For that venture, Vincent used a DIY “bookmobile” — a lawnmower with a wagon attached to it — to give away free books in exchange for animal shelter donations.
Giving away books ultimately turned into selling them out of a 97-square-foot space in her mother’s art studio in Shawnee.
Seven Stories moved into its downtown Shawnee space last fall. In September, Vincent will renew her state business license for the third time.
Ultimately, she said she hopes to keep Seven Stories around for the long haul — and she hopes that can still be in Shawnee, her hometown.
She opened the store out of a need she’d noticed for an independent bookstore in her community. No matter what happens, she hopes to keep filling that need.
“I have a bond to Shawnee that I think a lot of people don’t realize,” she said. “I started a bookstore here because people kept saying they wanted one.”
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