Best of Kansas City 2021: The unending will of Willa Robinson

The interior of Willa’s Books & Vinyl. // Courtesy Willa Robinson

If Willa’s Books & Vinyl is a phoenix, Willa Robinson is the force that keeps breathing fresh life into the ashes. The name “Willa’s Books” has been around since 1994 as Robinson sold books throughout the city as a vendor. She ran bookselling tables on 18th and Vine during jazz and blues festivals, but it wasn’t until 2007 that Robinson opened her first brick and mortar.

It was a rocky four and a half years throughout the recession that led her to close in March of 2012. Since 2015, Robinson has situated her vast collection of African American books and vinyl in one room of a building off at the corner of 63rd and Citadel, called Location 1. The addition of “& Vinyl” in the name—and the wares—is new in the last year. 

Now, Robinson’s store is being threatened yet again.

She currently runs one of the only Black-owned independent bookstores with a physical location in the metro area. Her building, which has long been an incubator for young, Black businesses, was bought earlier this year by an Omaha development company.

Willa Robinson speaking in 2003. // Courtesy Willa Robinson

Robinson and her neighbors are being told they’ve got to move out by April 2022. In May, she created a GoFundMe to cover moving expenses—over the course of the next few months she raised more than $15,000, exceeding her original goal of $10,000. 

The loss of the building, its history, and its current businesses will be incalculable. At the very least, Robinson can keep her eyes on the horizon as she scopes out a new location. One that she hopes will have twice the space, better parking, and more opportunities to snag foot traffic.

As it is now, her shelves are double-stacked with hidden treasures and very little elbow room for browsing. But happily browse we will—at her current location, and whatever space becomes the store’s new home.