In January '24, we had an empty building and an ambitious goal of opening a bookstore by March. When sharing our plan of opening an independent bookstore, we heard A LOT of well-meaning people say, "How will you compete with Amazon?" or "I hope it works out for you."
It's now the beginning of a fresh year, 2025, and the bookshop has worked out much better than we hoped so far – luckily I had my camera along the way.
Here are a few favorite photos and the stories behind them:
January
We had just spent 200% of our marketing budget on the neon sign for the roof, so we printed 89 individual pages from the FedEx store as signage for the winter. A lot of scotch tape but, I must say, it looked pretty good!
January
Kate holding up our new window sign, another poor budgeting decision by the Marketing Guy (whoopsies). In the background you can see the old drop ceiling of the space, which was later removed during reno.
January 27
I built all the bookshelves for the store using free reclaimed wood from a warehouse in Iowa (Thanks, Alan!). We loved that each board had a story, but it meant lots and lots of sanding and pulling hundreds of nails.
February 28
The store about one week before we opened. We kept the furniture covered, mainly so our kids wouldn't eat goldfish on the couch, and still had dozens of packages to scan and shelve.
February 28
Another view of the store, pre-open. My sister and Kate are unpacking inventory while the kids play out front. Above the door you can see the stencil where I had just begun painting the address numbers.
February 29
Our friend and neighbor, Amy, painting the iconic mural in our Kids section. Amy is an incredible artist at Hallmark and we are so proud that her work is a part of our store.
February 29
Unboxing our first plant shipment – Happy Day! I built the rolling plant table using an old kitchen countertop that I hoarded in the basement for several years. Ultimate Dad Flex.
March 4
Our sign was installed one day before we opened. This is Aaron from Midtown Signs – they absolutely crushed it. I am a graphic designer by trade, so the process of designing a sign like this was a blast.
March 5, Opening Day
The morning we opened, I made Kate pose in front of the store because I had seen an old photo on the documentary, The Booksellers (below). I think she was frustrated because she had real stuff to do and we opened in a few hours, but I will always cherish this photo. The first day of our biggest adventure!
March 5, Opening Day
Our very first customers!
Ms. Sue (left) showed up 10 minutes before we opened. She is still a regular customer who visits several times a week and frequently brings baked goods for the staff.
Hannah and Maggie (right) were waiting in the car when I flipped the sign at 11 a.m. Hannah is a plant lover and master gardener who is now on staff and cares for all our plants.
March 7
We had intended for March 5 to a be a soft launch – we assumed we would have time to tidy things up and get our sh*t together that week prior to our big "Friends and Family Opening". But articles from KC Today and The KC Star meant that lots of people were showing up! It was so exciting and terrifying.
We originally thought we would run the store mostly ourselves for at least 6 months, but realized early on that the community was very excited and we needed to get serious about finding a team.
March 9
We had lots of late nights at the store over the year. It's our second home – we order takeout, listen to music, the kids watch netflix in the back and we do whatever needs to be done.
March-ish
Our name comes from a favorite houseplant, the Monstera Deliciosa. I've always thought that "Monstera" also sounds like an old lady who has owned a bookstore for 50 years.
Our resident Monstera plant, aka Our Queen, was given to us by my mom because it got too big for her kitchen.
April 12
I was taking some photos of new plants and caught the sun at just the right time to see BOOKS written on the floor.
April 20
Friends look at our used book carts on the opening day of the O.P. Farmer's Market. The reason we wanted to open in March was to be ready for market weekends, when a lot of foot traffic comes to town. We did it you guys!
April 23
Our first event... Emily Henry Day!! We opened up early and had custom cookies (made by Laramie before she started working at the store) and coffee drinks. Funny Story was our best-selling book of 2024.
April 27
We posted a video that went semi-viral on Indie Bookstore Day (good job, Laine). The next day we almost croaked when Reece's Book Club commented on it. Pure joy!
May 6
Carrying in boxes while morning sun pours in. It's really pretty in the mornings, especially in Summer.
May 7
Picking up our first t-shirts from the best merch shop in Kansas City, Gladhand Studio! I design most of our merch myself and they have been incredible partners.
We started calling this character "Bookie". He's now the official bookstore mascot.
May 17
It was fun to see the plant tables fill up for the Spring and Summer season!
May 24
The next time you're in, ask us to stamp your book! This was the first time we used it, It says "Overland Park, KS | Hello, Neighbor!"
June-ish
The back of the store faces the OP Farmer's Market, and we get a lot of walkers from other vendors and businesses. I painted this lil' sign on the corner hoping to catch people's attention and show them the way.
June 5
Kate and I took this self-portrait on the store's 3-month anniversary. I still can't believe how different the store already looked then versus when we opened in March. I am a big believer in the Atomic Habits stuff, 1% better every day!
June 16
The morning of the Downtown OP Art Fair, a friend texted me about an artist who created a painting of our store! I took the kids around and was delighted to find Sarah Ruth Frey!
Sarah painted Monstera's as a part of an Overland Park Landmark series – such an honor to be a part of that list. We now sell the postcards in the store.
August-ish
Hannah brought in her grandpa's old film camera because she knows I collect them – so we spent the day shooting pictures around the shop to test it out. Works like a charm!
August-ish
The Sunday crew: Laramie, Kate, and Mary. I had to finish the roll of film from Hannah's camera and made them take a picture together.
August 3
Our very first author event!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shout out to local bestselling author Megan Bannen for being a wonderful guest.
Megan came to visit us at the store long before we opened, when the store was dirty and empty and we were still building bookshelves. She brought us a copy of her book and was so kind. It's very meaningful that she was our first author event. We love Meg!
August 11
We found a snail on one of the plants, and the kids named him "Smalls". Wesley looks scary in this picture but he's a big softy.
Our 7-year-old took Smalls home but we won't talk about what happened to him. Oh – he's alive... he just "ex-scaped."
August 23
Buddies playing at the kids table while parents shop.
Going to the bookstore has always been a favorite weekend activity for our family, so we wanted the space to have something for all ages. This picnic table was one of the first purchases we made for the store.
August 30
Kate, Elizabeth, and Laine took a bookstore roadtrip to 14 different stores so we could put together the ideal Kansas City Bookstore Tour. This is Kate at Prospero's, a wonderful treasure trove and Kansas City icon.
They planned this trip for weeks to try and hit them all in one day.
September 27
I am a loyal subscriber to online sticker deals, so every time I get a new email that says "Discount stickers end at midnight!", I literally drop everything I'm doing and design a new sticker.
I hope to one day have the largest sticker collection of any bookstore in America.
I am not kidding.
P.s.- Lots and lots of our stickers are printed here in KC by our friend at The Orange Ampersand!
November 6
Daylight Savings Time sucks, I know. But it was really fun to finally see our sign lit up during working hours!
November 30
The locals chat on a chilly, snowy small business Saturday. We love our neighbors ❤️
November 30
More friends who braved the snow to support us on Small Biz Saturday. Love you guys.
December 3
Friends enjoying our first plant class! We mounted Staghorn Ferns and enjoyed Christmas music, wine, and charcuterie at the sold out event.
December 6
Wesley reading books to the kids after staying late during holiday hours.
How sweet is that?
December 6
The morning we opened, we realized we didn't have any labels for each genre. I printed these off at home (Left), cut them out, and used some washi tape to put them up minutes before the store opened. They weren't perfect, but they did the job for several months!
I couldn't help but think how far we had come when we put these permanent signs up (right, made for us by The Signage Studio).
December 14
A packed house for the first annual Kansas City Bookstore Crawl. We loved stamping everyone's passports and hosting our author friend, Paula Lafferty.
Happy New Year, y'all.
Thanks for reading! This year has been so wonderful in so many ways, and I'm glad to share these memories with you.
Cheers to 2025 and many more memories just like these.
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Follow Justin's work on Instagram at @justinwieners and @hotdogdesignstudio. This dude is technically not even an employee of the bookstore, but you can usually find him dropping off packages, pricing old books, or chatting behind the counter with neighbors on Saturdays.
