Rainy Day Books has a buyer: a new local ownership group of 16 people and counting. This includes the ownership team of Made in KC retail shops. The deal is expected to be completed in November.
"It's a fun group of people that have gotten involved to take Rainy Day Books forward into this next chapter," says Made in KC's Tyler Enders.
Made in KC launched in 2015 and has 10 retail locations across the metro, where it sells Kansas City-made products such as candles, soaps and T-shirts.
On May 2, Rainy Day Books posted a letter on its website announcing the nearly 50-year-old independent bookstore at 2706 W. 53rd St. in Fairway was for sale.
“It is time for someone new to be the face and voice of Rainy Day Books," wrote founder and president Vivien Jennings and her longtime partner and chief operations officer Roger Doeren.
Jennings and Doeren, in their 70s, said they wanted to retire and spend more time with family and friends.
The three Made in KC co-owners, Tyler Enders, Keith Bradley and Thomas McIntyre took the idea of buying Rainy Day Books to their advisory board, expecting the six members to suggest they stay focused, or that it wasn’t for them.
But that wasn’t the case.
“There was overwhelming support and encouragement, that we at least look into it further,” Enders says.
As they considered whether they might be a good fit for Rainy Day Books, Enders says, they discovered a lot of overlaps between the two businesses in terms of philosophy and approach to customers and employees.
"And as Geoffrey Jennings, Vivien’s son, would say, you know, it’s a community's wellspring of ideas and it's where people — for all sorts of different reasons and from all sorts of different backgrounds — come to find inspiration, stories, education, et cetera," he says. "So we love the idea of being a part of that.”
Several members of Made in KC’s advisory group and fans of Rainy Day Books also expressed interest in participating, including businessman and art collector Bill Gautreaux, who recruited members of his book club.
And, Enders says, that blossomed into the current investor/ownership group of 16.
“Although there are a lot of people who are interested in participating, we aren't too worried about it because we don't really see a whole lot that needs to change with Rainy Day Books,” he says. “We love the way it exists today. We love the customer experience.”
Geoffrey Jennings plans to stay on as book buyer and events manager. And Vivien Jennings will continue to host author events, and she and Roger Doeren will visit with customers in the store for, Enders says, "as much time as they're willing to give us."
Right now, Enders says, they're focusing on a smooth transition. But he says there are likely to be slight tweaks in the future, including the possibility of adding more locations.
“We do want to bring more people into the shop, and we do want to extend the hours,” he says. “And hopefully when we invite authors to Kansas City, we can pack out Unity Temple even further and the other venues at which we host.”
