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

Wise Blood Booksellers began as a shelf inside a record store, became its own storefront on Westport Road in 2019, and in 2021 moved back into the record store — this time occupying about a third of it. It is co-owned by Judy Mills, who owns Mills Record Company, and Dylan Pyles, who had been curating the books there for years. New and used stock is shelved together rather than segregated, which is the store’s clearest statement of intent: contemporary fiction and nonfiction, poetry, art books, graphic novels and local authors, sorted by what the book is rather than by how old it is.

Description

Wise Blood Booksellers is an independent bookstore in Westport, trading from inside Mills Record Company at 4045 Broadway Boulevard.12 It sells new and used books shelved together rather than in separate sections — a merchandising choice its founders describe as the animating idea of the shop, not a space-saving compromise.3

The stock is curated rather than comprehensive: contemporary fiction and nonfiction, poetry, art books, graphic novels, work by local authors, and a politics and radical-reading section that the store’s own site carries as a standing category alongside children’s books and new releases.13 The name is Flannery O’Connor’s, which sets the register accurately enough.

The store’s origin is in the record shop it now sits inside. Judy Mills and Dylan Pyles had been selling a curated book selection at Mills Record Company for years before deciding a dedicated bookstore was warranted.3 Mills dated the decision to a single transaction: “I sold an Anne Sexton and an Alan Watts at the same time… and I had an emotional, visceral feeling that I hadn’t had in a long, long time.”3 Pyles framed the together-shelving idea the same way — as something he wanted to see and could not find: “I’ve always wanted to see that in a bookstore… I thought it would be cool if Kansas City had a shop with both of those in one place.”3

Mills has described a stocking philosophy carried over from the record business: “Something I think we do well at the record store is that we present the best variety we can, and then let customers help shape what the rest of it looks like.”3

Both principals hold master’s degrees in English from Kansas State University, taken some decades apart.2

Goods and services

  • New and used books, shelved together13
  • Contemporary fiction and nonfiction3
  • Poetry3
  • Art books and graphic novels3
  • Local author titles3
  • Children’s books1
  • Politics and radical reading1
  • Gift certificates1
  • Online ordering via the store’s own site and a Bookshop.org affiliate storefront14

History

Wise Blood opened on Black Friday, Thanksgiving weekend 2019, at 300 Westport Road.35 It was an offshoot of Mills Record Company, where co-owners Judy Mills and Dylan Pyles had been selling books as a curated sideline for several years.3 It opened into what local press at the time characterized as a Kansas City independent-bookstore revival running against Amazon’s market share.6

In April 2021 the store announced it would move into Mills Record Company itself, closing the Westport Road space on 25 April 2021 — the day after Independent Bookstore Day — and reopening inside the record shop at 4045 Broadway.5 The co-owners framed the move as expansion rather than retrenchment: it allowed more books and seven-day opening, and they described it as “the best way for us to expand and grow… while investing in the future of Wise Blood.”5 The move returned the bookstore to its point of origin.

Wise Blood now occupies roughly a third of the record company’s large retail floor.2 Metro bookstore guides list the two as a single destination with two businesses in it.7

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Wise Blood Booksellers — official site — asserts: address 4045 Broadway Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64111-2601; phone (816) 960-3775; hours Monday-Saturday 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday 12-6 p.m.; standing inventory categories including children’s books, fiction, new releases and politics/radical reading; gift certificates sold; site recently redesigned, with returning customers required to reset passwords. Primary currently-operating proof. No owner names or founding narrative appear on the homepage. (Fetched 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. Flatland / KC Studio, coverage of the Kansas City local-bookstore resurgence — asserts: Wise Blood Booksellers is an offshoot of Mills Record Company, co-owned by Dylan Pyles, who works at Mills Record Company, and Judy Mills, who owns the record store; Wise Blood occupies about a third of the large retail space inside Mills Record Company; both Mills and Pyles hold master’s degrees in English from Kansas State University, earned a few decades apart. (Fetched 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. The Pitch, “Wise Blood is open and slinging new and used books in Westport” — asserts: Wise Blood opened Thanksgiving weekend 2019 at 300 Westport Road; Judy Mills owns the bookstore and Dylan Pyles manages it; Mills also owns the nearby Mills Record Company, where the two had been selling a curated book selection for years before opening a dedicated store; stock covers contemporary fiction and nonfiction, poetry, art books, graphic novels and local authors, with new and used books shelved together rather than separated; Mills quoted, “I sold an Anne Sexton and an Alan Watts at the same time…and I had an emotional, visceral feeling that I hadn’t had in a long, long time”; Pyles quoted, “I’ve always wanted to see that in a bookstore…I thought it would be cool if Kansas City had a shop with both of those in one place”; Mills quoted on stocking philosophy, “Something I think we do well at the record store is that we present the best variety we can, and then let customers help shape what the rest of it looks like.” (Fetched 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  4. Wise Blood Booksellers — Bookshop.org affiliate storefront — asserts: the store maintains an active Bookshop.org affiliate storefront, the independent-bookseller online sales channel. Recorded as a sales channel; not used as the website: value, which is the store’s own domain. (URL surfaced in search 2026-08-14; storefront body not read directly.) ↩

  5. Shelf Awareness, “Wise Blood Booksellers on the Move in Kansas City, Mo.,” 7 April 2021 — asserts: the store is moving into Mills Record Company, 4045 Broadway Blvd, at the end of April 2021, closing its existing space on 25 April 2021, the day after Independent Bookstore Day; describes Pyles and Mills as co-owners; quotes them that the move “is the best way for us to expand and grow (which means more books and open seven days a week) while investing in the future of Wise Blood”; notes Wise Blood originally emerged from Mills Record Company, making the move a return to its origins. (Fetched 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. KCUR, “Amid Amazon Backlash, Kansas City Sees An Indie Bookstore Revival,” 29 November 2019 — asserts: Wise Blood’s late-2019 opening was part of a wider Kansas City independent-bookstore revival. Cited for the opening context only; article body surfaced in search rather than read in full this pass. (Surfaced 2026-08-14.) ↩

  7. Monstera’s Books, “Visit all 14 of Kansas City’s Independent Bookstores” — asserts: Wise Blood Booksellers, 4045 Broadway Blvd, is a “mostly-used bookstore tucked inside of Mills Record Co in Westport,” with a store dog and a curated pen selection. Corroborates address and co-location; a peer bookstore’s directory, used as a current-trading cross-check. (Fetched 2026-08-14.) ↩

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/wise-blood-booksellers · record updated 2026-08-14