INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — The holiday season is a crucial time of the year for local business owners. That’s why chambers of commerce around the country celebrate Small Business Saturday after Thanksgiving– many stores offer special discounts to get customers in the door.
The Independence Square Association kicked off its Shop Small Saturday with a community breakfast.
The Square Association also celebrated the opening of a new bookstore on Saturday.
The Littlest Library opened just in time for the holiday season. The shop aims to meet needs in the KC area and serve as a community gathering place.
“So we are actually KC’s first Latina-owned bookstore. We started as a small ten-by-ten in the painted tree up in Barry Woods about a year and a half ago. So we are really blessed to be able to have a bigger space,” said Littlest Library Owner America Fontenot.
“I have always loved the square. It has such a charm to it. When you walk through as a kid, you’re just so amazed with the theater, with all the small business stores, something that you don’t really get from big commercial retail spots.”
The Littlest Library offers books in English and Spanish. Fontenot hopes to meet needs in the local Latino community.
“Growing up Latina, it’s been very hard to find representation. I’ve been an avid reader. I was an English major, and I graduated with my bachelor’s from UMKC. It is very important for me to have reading in my life. I just never really found books that represented who I was. So, finding local authors that offer those readings and just things that I would have enjoyed growing up, I felt like it was really important to share with other people,” Fontenot explained.
Jeff Rogers, Executive Director of the Independence Square Association, says a bookstore was an excellent fit for the space.
“To have a very targeted bookstore for the Latino community is amazing. We’ve hoped for this type of offering for a while, but having this specific one in our community is extremely important. Over 20% of the population in Independence is Latino. So it’s wonderful to be able to welcome them here to the square,” Rogers explained.
The bookstore is light and bright, but one bookshelf leads you to a room with a totally different demeanor. That space will be used for book club meetings and private events.
“When it’s not in use for venues or book clubs, this will just be open seating for anyone who wants to come and read a book and grab a cup of coffee at the coffee station,” Fontenot said.
Fontenot plans to announce information about book club meetings in the coming weeks. You can find those announcements here.
The Littlest Library opened its doors on Small Business Saturday, a reminder to shop at local businesses, especially during the holiday season.
“When people spend their money at small businesses, it stays in the community, it circulates in that community, and it makes all of us stronger. So we really appreciate it when people stop, pause, step away from maybe their Amazon purchase or from their big box store purchase and spend it at a small business where they’ll hire more local people, where they’ll buy from other local suppliers, and make our community a stronger place to live,” Rogers said.
The Independence Square Association is gearing up to host its living windows event on December 5.
