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

Well Read Bookstore is an independent general bookstore at 241 SE Main Street in downtown Lee’s Summit, Missouri, opened in late August 2026 by Lee’s Summit native Anna Buser in the former KD’s Books storefront.

Description

Well Read occupies 241 SE Main Street in historic downtown Lee’s Summit, Jackson County, Missouri — not Lee’s Summit, Kansas, and not any out-of-state namesake.12 The shop is a single-location independent bookstore. First-party copy frames it as “a welcoming neighborhood bookstore rooted in curiosity, comfort, and conversation,” selling new and gently used books, gifts, and “a quiet corner to slow down.”1 The Kansas City Star (Noelle Alviz-Gransee, updated 28 August 2026) describes a general bookstore for all ages and interests plus book-themed gifts, with a children’s section behind a reclaimed-wood register table that includes a wooden train set Buser obtained from KD’s founding owner Cheryl Collier.2

The building is dated 1890 in that Star profile and is described as a former grocery, pharmacy, and appliance store before it was a bookstore. Buser told the paper the finished room was meant to feel like “a smoking lounge meets a slightly strange antique mall.” A room is reserved to become an events space that can also be rented by the community; that use is stated as forthcoming, not as a live rental calendar.2

The shop mascot is a rabbit named Lewis, after Lewis & Duncan, the grocery that once occupied the building. The logo is credited to Justin Wieners of Hot Dog Designs in Overland Park, whose family runs Monstera’s Books.23

This page is not Well Read Books of Fulton, Missouri; not Well Read Books of Elk River, Minnesota; not The Well Bookstore (Resurrection / Leawood); and not any other “Well Read” trade name outside downtown Lee’s Summit.

Opening-date conflict — printed, not merged. The store’s own site, as fetched, still banners “Independent bookstore opening august 28!” and invites readers to an “Opening Celebration Friday, August 28, 10am-8pm.”1 First-party Instagram (@wellread.kc) posted opening-celebration graphics dated Friday, August 28, with the 241 SE Main St address.4 The Star instead writes that Well Read “will open its doors Friday, Aug. 27, at 10 a.m.,” with children’s story time at 10:30 a.m., branded totes with a $50 purchase, cookies for the first 50 customers, and Art Walk hours with “bubbly beverages.”2 27 August and 28 August are different calendar days. Neither figure is converted into the other here. Regular hours on the first-party site (Friday 10–7) also differ from that opening-celebration 10 a.m.–8 p.m. window; the longer window is treated as opening-day hours, not the standing Friday schedule.

Ownership and history

The Star names Anna Buser as owner and a Lee’s Summit native who “grew up in the area” and had been coming to the KD’s Books storefront “since I was five.” She is quoted: “It’s been a dream since I was a kid.”2 The same piece names her husband, Bryan Buser, as sharing the May 23 key-handover and the renovation (repaint; five layers of flooring pulled). It also states that “last year” the Busers saw the building for sale and bought it, with Anna quoted: “That’s the best way to secure the future of a store is to have the real estate… and we can keep it local.”2 Shop ownership in that article is attributed to Anna; building purchase is attributed to the couple. Those are not collapsed into a single title. Missouri Secretary of State entity name and Jackson County parcel owner were not searched this pass. “

KD’s Books left 241 SE Main Street in 2026 for 207 SE 3rd St. The Star reports that when KD’s lease came up for renewal in February, KD’s told the Busers it would not stay; Tina Perne had previously told the paper KD’s found a more doable expense base; and in May KD’s announced on social media that it had moved a few blocks away.2 Buser’s stated reason for opening Well Read was to keep that Main Street room a bookstore.

A 2 June 2026 Instagram post on @wellread.kc, quoted at length by The Star, is the first-party “why”: stories as a counter to a “digital and divided” world, and the Main Street storefront as a childhood place of belonging.52

Email Anna@wellreadkc.com is published on the Downtown Lee’s Summit Association directory listing, not on the store’s own homepage contact block.6 Phone and street address on that listing match the first-party site. The same directory page also dumps a geocode string that includes 16 Southeast 3rd Street and ZIP 64063. 16 SE 3rd is not the storefront on the shop’s own site or in The Star and is recorded as directory noise, not an address.

Services

First-party and Star, not a menu:12

  • New and gently used books for all ages
  • Book-themed gifts
  • Children’s section (including the inherited wooden train set, per The Star)
  • Planned community event / rental room (forthcoming as of the Star visit)
  • Opening-weekend story time (announced; not a standing schedule published on the site)
  • Email newsletter signup (Mailchimp / eepurl link on the site)

Online shop URLs under /ols/products on the GoDaddy builder resolved only to placeholder “sample product” pages this pass and are not treated as a live catalog.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Well Read (official site), accessed 2026-08-31. URL ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Noelle Alviz-Gransee, “Lee’s Summit native opens ‘dream’ bookstore in familiar downtown storefront,” The Kansas City Star, originally published 28 August 2026 5:00 a.m., updated 28 August 2026 4:30 p.m. URL ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  3. “About Us,” Hot Dog Designs, accessed 2026-08-31. URL ↩

  4. Well Read Instagram (@wellread.kc), accessed 2026-08-31. URL ↩

  5. Well Read (@wellread.kc), Instagram post, 2 June 2026. URL ↩

  6. “Well Read Bookstore,” Downtown Lee’s Summit Association directory listing, accessed 2026-08-31. URL ↩

See also

  • Registry
  • Owner-And-History-Research-Toolchain
  • kds-books
Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/well-read-bookstore · record updated 2026-08-31