This past spring, Monstera’s Books celebrated one year in downtown Overland Park.
It was a year that owner Kate Wieners said had wrapped up nicely as the book and plant shop found its footing in the community. By all accounts, things were looking good heading into the second year.
One thing she certainly didn’t expect the second year to entail: a fire next door and a resulting temporary closure. But after a months-long rebuild, the book and plant shop at 7930 Floyd St. reopened in time for the holiday (gift) season.
The fire happened at the restaurant next door
In mid-August, an electrical fire broke out in the early hours of the morning at Torreador Mexican Restaurant.
The fire itself didn’t reach the store. But still, as a result of the fire, Wieners said her store suffered significant smoke and water damage.
“A lot of people don’t understand it — because you don’t realize it until you experience it — but the smoke is so pervasive, it’s really hard to get out of porous materials,” she said. “It was pretty much deemed a total loss.”
Torreador Mexican Restaurant, which has been open since 1985, remains closed for now. Its owners were not immediately reachable by the Post this week.
Monstera’s underwent a significant rebuild
With very little to salvage, Monstera’s had to essentially start from scratch.
That meant all new inventory, and taking the building itself down to the studs.
“All of the floors had to come out, and all the walls came down,” Wieners said. “Everything was bare. We had to reorder everything.”
Luckily, though, the space itself underwent reconstruction and was able to become almost exactly what it was before.
One key difference: the west-facing wall now sits slightly further back than it did before, which makes more space for new items Monstera’s didn’t carry before, like records and magazines.
Plus, Wieners hinted at other new features she’ll add in the coming months, once the store gets back fully on its feet.
“It’s not very often where you get the opportunity to start something like this over again,” she said. “We joke that it’s like phase two, and phase one is just getting open again.”
Monstera’s found community support through the ordeal
The building itself was just one piece of the puzzle. During the time when Monstera’s didn’t have a physical space, Wieners said, they had to find a way to still drum up revenue.
They did so through pop-ups and events throughout the fall, which gave Monstera’s customers a way to show their support during the rebuild.
“It’s become much more of a community hub than what we initially anticipated,” Wieners said. “I think that that was even more visible while we were closed.”
And then, when it was time to move back into their downtown Overland Park space, she said, lots of people stepped up to help make that happen.
“We had a lot of people volunteering to help put things back together and stock shelves, and all of that was so helpful,” she said. “We couldn’t have opened as quickly as we did without people volunteering their time. We are so thankful for the community and our customers and everybody who rallied to keep (Monstera’s) around.”
It was during this time that she said it became even more apparent to her that Monstera’s, though still relatively new, has already made its mark on Overland Park.
“I don’t think people realized how much they wanted a space like this in the community,” she said. “That, in itself, is just motivation for us to keep going so that we can still be part of the community and provide the space for the community.”
Want more local business news? Clothing store Buckle coming to Overland Park’s Bluhawk
