KC Defender invests in Black-owned bookstore’s legacy, keeping its story alive as media startup’s new HQ

Missouri’s oldest-operating Black-owned bookstore is set to evolve into a public archive, programming venue, and the new headquarters for The Kansas City Defender — a bittersweet turn of the page for a space marked by resilience and community action, organizers said.

Nina Kerrs, a Mutual Aid organizer with The Kansas City Defender, speaks during a retirement event for Willa Robinson at Willa’s Books and Vinyl; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

Willa’s Books and Vinyl, 5547 Troost Ave., has long stood as a sanctuary of Black history and cultural pride, said Nina Kerrs, a Mutual Aid organizer with The Kansas City Defender, a Black-led digital media startup and advocate for Kansas City’s Black community.

But in recent years, Willa’s has struggled financially, enlisting supporters from across Kansas City to help keep its doors open. Kerrs and team members from the KC Defender began work in spring 2024 to preserve the bookstore’s legacy, including cataloging more than 20,000 books and paying the store’s rent.

“We didn’t want to see the longest-standing Black bookstore in Missouri just disappear,” Kerrs said. “Until people walk into this space and see what the books are, the first editions and the deep history, they won’t understand. But this place matters.”

RELATED: Missouri’s longest-standing Black bookstore faced closure; The Defender pulled up

The storefront of Willa’s Books and Vinyl at 5547 Troost Ave., Kansas City; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

Customers browse the shelves at Willa’s Books and Vinyl at 5547 Troost Ave., Kansas City; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

A farewell celebration Saturday at the bookstore marked the public transition for the space, with founder Willa Robinson officially stepping into retirement at 84, and transferring the storefront to the KC Defender.

“I’m not ready to retire, but it’s time for me to retire,” Robinson told a crowd of family, longtime customers, and new faces during her final celebration and sale. “All of these books, all this music, all this art, is dedicated to you all.”

Her collection will remain as a vital resource to the community within the new KC Defender headquarters, Kerrs said, noting they’ll be accessible as part of a new public archive.

“I didn’t know that these young people were doing all of this,” Robinson said Saturday, looking around at the team of volunteers and organizers. “I tell people, ‘I don’t have any ideas; all my ideas have burned up!’ So now, they can come up with something.”

Melissa Ferrer-Civil, director of The KC Defender’s B-REAL Academy and the official poet laureate for Kansas City, speaks at Willa’s Books and Vinyl; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

A youth-led rebirth

The bookstore’s new life as a community-focused multi-use space will include it serving as the home for The KC Defender’s B-REAL Academy, a 15-week Black education initiative.

The program offers a crucial opportunity for learning histories that are often banned or erased, said Melissa Ferrer-Civil, director of the academy and the official poet laureate for Kansas City, Missouri.

“It’s Black radical education for abolition and liberation,” she told attendees of Saturday’s gathering. “We’re educating our community about what’s possible outside the limitations we’ve been given.”

In addition to educational programming, the space will support the Defender’s Mutual Aid efforts, which include initiatives like free grocery deliveries and clothing drives.

Click here to learn more about The Kansas City Defender.

While Robinson had grown discouraged in recent years by what she perceived as disinterest from younger generations, the passion and effort of the KC Defender team brought a renewed sense of hope, Kerrs said.

“[Robinson] told me she didn’t know the youth cared about her,” Kerrs said. “But this has reinvigorated her. She’s excited again.”

Customers carry vinyl albums and other purchases to checkout at Willa’s Books and Vinyl; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

Customers browse the shelves at Willa’s Books and Vinyl at 5547 Troost Ave., Kansas City; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

A space worth saving

Kerrs met Robinson during a job search; their initial conversation lasted four hours, an encounter that would impact both their lives, she said.

“[Robinson] said she was the only one working there, and could only afford to be the only one,” Kerrs recalled of their meeting at Willa’s. “Then, a few weeks later, she let me know she was going to sell everything and close the store. That’s when it became an immediate call to action.”

What was at stake: a refuge for literature lovers first launched in 2007 on Troost — later moving to the Citadel Office Building in 2012, then back to Troost in 2022 — housing an expansive curated collection of Black history, vintage vinyl, and cultural wisdom.

It’s a treasure forged from Robinson’s lifelong passion for reading — sparked from her childhood in Happy Bend, Arkansas, following in the footsteps of her father, an avid reader.

Melanie Marshall, daughter of Willa Robinson, stands alongside Lauren Winston, a reporter from The Kansas City Defender, at Willa’s Books and Vinyl; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

At Saturday’s retirement celebration, the crowd also saw an even more intimate side of Robinson’s story. Her daughter, Melanie Marshall, shared that Robinson had recently been ill, making the celebration all the more meaningful.

“We didn’t know if today was going to come, but God is good all the time,” Marshall said, thanking the KC Defender for “stepping up, taking charge, and bringing a new life to Willa’s Books.”

“This is life-changing for us,” Kerrs added. “To have a space where we can be ourselves and be safe, to learn, organize, and grow, that’s what Miss Willa gave us, and now, we’ll carry it forward.”