This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Bliss Books & Wine is an independent bookstore and wine bar at 3502 Gillham Rd in Midtown Kansas City, MO — the ground floor of the International Apartments building at Gillham Road and Armour Boulevard. It is owned by sisters La’Nesha Frazier and La’Nae Robinson, who started the concept as a 2019 pop-up, moved it online through the pandemic, and opened the brick-and-mortar store on Saturday, February 18, 2023 — after working with KCMO councilwoman Andrea Bough to amend the city’s liquor-license density ordinance so the location could be licensed at all. Tier 1 — locally founded, family- and owner-operated.123

Trade-name note: the correct first-party name is Bliss Books & Wine (plural “Books”).

Description

A bookstore with a bar in it, rather than a bar that happens to shelve books. First-party framing is “READ, SIP, RELAX”: curated titles with an emphasis on diverse voices, local authors, staff picks and book-club selections, alongside wine, craft beverages and seasonal drinks meant to be consumed on site while browsing or sitting. Requesting an unstocked title is offered as a standard service, and audiobooks are sold through a Libro.fm storefront partnership.1

Programming is the other half of the business: the Wines & Spines book club, wine tastings and classes, writing workshops, author talks, wellness sessions and community activities. The room is also rented for private events — first-party cites birthday parties, baby showers, art exhibits, weddings and proposals — and has a reservable space.1

Earlier coverage describes the concept’s origins as a wine-lounge-for-readers, explicitly modeled on the cigar-lounge idea of a place to decompress after work, with early wine sourced in partnership with KC Wineworks and Weston Wine Company.4

Ownership and history

Sisters La’Nesha Frazier and La’Nae Robinson founded Bliss in 2019, running pop-up events and author gatherings before COVID-19 pushed the business to virtual tastings, workshops and online book sales. Frazier’s stated motivation was the absence of anywhere to drink a glass of wine while reading: “I even went to the library … but they kind of frown upon you drinking wine while you’re in the library.”45

The path to a storefront ran through city hall. Their chosen Midtown space could not be granted a liquor license under Kansas City’s density restrictions; in summer 2022 the co-owners worked with councilwoman Andrea Bough to amend the ordinance, which made them eligible for a waiver. The physical store opened with a ribbon cutting on Saturday, February 18, 2023, attended by Mayor Quinton Lucas. Frazier on the run-up: “The battle with the liquor license, I was going to fight it to the death.”23

Recognition to date includes a listing in O, The Oprah Magazine’s roundup of Black-owned bookstores and a 2022 Emerging Business award from the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.45

menu_status: unavailable — Bliss serves wine and specialty drinks on premises, so na would be wrong, but the first-party drink-menu and food-menu pages (/kansas-city-bliss-books-and-wine-drink-menu, /…-food-menu) both return HTTP 404 as of 2026-08-13 following a site redesign, and the current navigation carries no menu section. Priced items circulating in search indexes are stale cached copies and are not transcribed here. First-party describes the offering only as “thoughtfully curated wines and specialty drinks.”1

“ — a current priced by-the-glass / flight list. Recheck the site or capture an in-store menu on the next pass.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Bliss Books & Wine — official site (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: name “Bliss Books & Wine”; 3502 Gillham Rd, Kansas City, MO 64111; (816) 226-7720; info@blissbooksandwine.com; hours Mon–Tue closed, Wed 4–7pm, Thu 3–8pm, Fri 3–8pm, Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 11am–5pm; sister-owners La’Nesha Frazier and La’Nae Robinson; “thoughtfully curated wines and specialty drinks”; Wines & Spines book club, wine tastings and classes, wellness experiences, creative workshops, author talks; private-event rentals and room reservations; Libro.fm audiobook partnership; drink-menu and food-menu URLs return 404 as of this access date. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. KSHB 41, “Bliss Books and Wine opens after helping change city ordinance in Kansas City.” (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: sisters La’Nesha Frazier and La’Nae Robinson opened the store after a 2019 pop-up launch; located at 3502 Gillham Road on the ground floor of the International Apartments at Gillham Road and Armour Boulevard; summer 2022 work with councilwoman Andrea Bough to modify KC liquor-license density regulations, making them eligible for a waiver; Frazier quote “The battle with the liquor license, I was going to fight it to the death”; Mayor Quinton Lucas remarks on Black, women-owned businesses. ↩ ↩2

  3. “Grand Opening for Bliss Books & Wine, Kansas City, Mo.,” Shelf Awareness, Feb 22, 2023 (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: grand opening and ribbon cutting Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 3502 Gillham Road; owners La’Nesha Frazier and La’Nae Robinson; 2019 pop-up origin, 2020 online pivot, liquor-license density obstacle resolved via ordinance change; Frazier quote “Our community has been with us from day one”; Mayor Quinton Lucas attended. ↩ ↩2

  4. “Partners in page turning: Sisters unwind with cigar bar-style concept for wine-loving readers,” Startland News, Nov 28, 2020 (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: founded 2019 by sisters La’Nesha Frazier and La’Nae Robinson; cigar-lounge-inspired concept; pre-COVID pop-ups and author gatherings, pandemic pivot to virtual events and online book sales; wine partnerships with KC Wineworks and Weston Wine Company; sought a permanent Midtown location; featured in O, The Oprah Magazine’s Black-owned bookstores roundup; Frazier quote about the library frowning on wine. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. “Co-owner of Bliss Books & Wine spills on the challenges and joys of launching a family business,” The Pitch (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: co-owners La’Nae Robinson and La’Nesha Frazier; founded 2019; located 3502 Gillham Rd, Midtown KC; 2022 Emerging Business award from the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce; Oprah Magazine feature; COVID pivot to virtual tastings, writing workshops and e-books. ↩ ↩2

See also

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/bliss-books-and-wine · record updated 2026-08-13