This winter, a local independent bookstore will enter its next chapter.
Halley Vincent, the teenage owner of Seven Stories bookstore in downtown Shawnee, is in the process of moving the shop further west on Johnson Drive to a brand new space.
The move means bigger things — literally — for the bookstore, which will roughly triple in size from its former space.
Though the new space’s opening date hasn’t yet been set, Vincent said she hopes to reopen Seven Stories in its new digs in early December.
Seven Stories is moving to 12119 Johnson Drive
- The space is moving to a location just off Johnson Drive, about a block west of Quivira Road and across the street from Mexican eatery Dos Tequilas and Brothers Records and Toys.
- Home contractor Sash Group, which operates next door, previously used the space as a showroom.
- Hours for the new shop have yet to be determined — though Vincent said the shop will likely operate under the same hours as its previous space.
The space will have new features, new inventory
Seven Stories had been in its previous space at 11109 Johnson Drive for roughly a year when Vincent began trying to raise funds to relocate the growing shop.
With the space at roughly 400 square feet, Vincent said she’d known she would eventually need to find a larger space, but when the building’s owners listed it for sale, those plans became more urgent.
“I think it was really halfway into the year when I was like, ‘This clearly isn’t enough space either,’” she said about her original space. “That’s when I started to realize that (the store) was already growing way faster than I had the room for. Then it just so happened that the building was being sold, so it kind of worked out for the best.”
In hopes of speeding up the process, Vincent launched a GoFundMe campaign to help garner financial support for the move. It wasn’t easy to ask for help as a business owner, she said, but donations began pouring in from the community.
In addition to monetary support, Vincent said many people also donated their time by stopping by Seven Stories to help pack up its inventory.
“It was honestly a really emotional moment, looking at those donations coming into the GoFundMe and seeing all these people come out and support us,” she said.
Due to its larger size, Vincent said she plans to implement some new organization at the new space, with larger sections for specific genres.
She said she also hopes to partner with local artists and businesses to widen the shop’s offerings with more art, and potentially some food and drink.
She also wants to grow Seven Stories’ children’s books inventory, and host more author events at the store — two things for which the store has become known in its two years of existence.
“I’m really excited about doing events and things with local businesses,” Vincent said. “Just kind of being that community hub, which we already have been, but I want to do more of it.”
Seven Stories got its start two years ago
Vincent and her mother, Alisha Vincent, first opened Seven Stories out of Alisha’s roughly 100-square-foot art studio in Shawnee.
It operated there for a year before moving to the space in downtown Shawnee space last fall. At that time, Vincent was going into her freshman year at Shawnee Mission North High School.
The idea for the bookstore was born out of a fundraising effort for local animal shelters, for which Vincent used a “bookmobile” (a lawnmower with a wagon attached to it) to garner animal shelter donations in exchange for free books.
“Even though it was hard work, it was work that I was willing to do,” Vincent recalled about the shop’s earliest days. “That’s when I realized that this was something I wanted to do in the future.”
As she prepares to enter her next chapter as a bookseller, Vincent is also balancing that with finishing her first semester as a sophomore at Shawnee Mission North.
Alisha co-owns the shop and oversees its day-to-day operations while Halley is at school.
Though Seven Stories will carry many of the books and locally-made art that customers have come to know, Vincent said the move means an expansion in more ways than one.
The shop will have more space to grow physically, but she said that starting over also brings more potential for developmental growth.
“It’s scary and exciting at the same time,” she said. “It’s good to start fresh, and I’m excited to come at it with a brand new mindset.”
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