A second Rainy Day Books will open this fall inside Made in KC’s new flagship store in downtown Kansas City’s Power & Light District.
And if a recent Saturday morning at its original Fairway shop is any indication, the nearly 50-year-old independent bookstore really knows how to draw a crowd, making a second location a logical next step.
On a sunny August morning, shoppers at the neighboring Hen House market were lucky to find a parking spot as a steady stream of parents and children made their way toward Rainy Day Books. Waiting outside the store was an unusual guest: a live pony.
The pony was there to help celebrate Princess Pony Says Nay, a new children’s book written by local author Jordan Morris and illustrated by Kansas City artist Charlie Mylie. Inside the packed bookstore, Morris and Mylie signed books and talked with young readers, who munched on doughnuts before heading outside to meet the four-legged star.
“That was a big event,” says Tyler Enders, co-founder of Made in KC, which, along with a group of local investors and entrepreneurs, acquired Rainy Day Books in late 2022. “It was a great event.”
Made in KC also operates Front Range Coffeehouse & Provisions next door, which was equally packed with families on pony day.
Crowds like that are part of the reason Enders and his partners are opening a second Rainy Day Books, scheduled to debut in October on 14th Street near Main Street in the Power & Light District. The other reason is considerably simpler.
“Downtown Kansas City doesn’t have a bookstore,” Enders says.
Rainy Day Books has long made author events a cornerstone of its business. Founded by Vivien Jennings in November 1975, the bookstore has hosted an impressive roster of literary heavyweights over the decades, including Margaret Atwood, Stephen King and Anne Rice. Enders says events and author appearances will remain a major focus of the downtown location.
The expansion comes at an interesting moment for the bookselling business. For years, the rise of Amazon and online shopping fueled predictions that brick-and-mortar bookstores—especially independent ones—were headed for extinction. Major chains Borders and B. Dalton disappeared, and even Barnes & Noble spent years closing locations.
Lately, however, the story has changed. Barnes & Noble is once again opening stores across the country, and independent booksellers are also expanding. According to the American Booksellers Association, more than 600 new independent bookstore locations opened last year, with more expected in 2026.
The new Rainy Day will occupy about one-third of Made in KC’s new downtown flagship. The remainder of the space will feature locally made and designed goods along with food and drink offerings, creating something akin to the company’s Made in KC Marketplace, Café + Bar locations on the Country Club Plaza and in Lee’s Summit and Lenexa.
Enders says the downtown Rainy Day will stock about 10,000 titles, slightly fewer than the Fairway store, with a greater emphasis on adult titles given its urban location. Initial hours are expected to be 7 am to 7 pm, although Enders says the store could stay open later on weekends.
For local authors and artists, Rainy Day’s commitment to events offers something harder to quantify than book sales.
As an illustrator, Mylie says he spends much of his working life alone, making opportunities to connect directly with readers especially valuable. Being “appreciated and supported as a local author in the context of a larger national conversation,” he says, is meaningful and “makes it feel like what we’re doing matters.”
And the expansion downtown doesn’t mean Rainy Day is finished investing in its longtime Fairway home. Enders says the original store will undergo renovations in October, including upgraded shelving and new flooring.
Nearly 50 years after Rainy Day Books first opened its doors, Kansas City isn’t just keeping its venerable independent bookstore; it’s getting another one.
