Life & Work with Erin Oliva of Downtown Overland Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Oliva.

Hi Erin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was an elementary school teacher for 11 years. Once I had my first child, I quit teaching to stay home with him. I stayed home for 8 years and had two more babies. Then, over COVID, being home with three young children during the lockdown, I got antsy!! My husband never worked from home even during COVID, so I was home day after day with our kids by myself with nowhere to go. I always tell people that if you get a SAHM home by herself with 3 babies during COVID, she’s going to come up with some wild ideas! This is when I decided that I needed an adventure, and I dreamed up a women’s clothing boutique. I opened, The Pretty Posy Boutique in the summer of 2021 in a sweet little storefront on Santa Fe in Downtown Overland Park with nothing but a vision and a degree from the Google School of Business!! I always say that because I do not have a business degree, I had no idea how to open or run a business, and I never even worked retail! So, I just figured it all out with a little (okay, a lot) of help from Google.

I ran that shop until the winter of 2023. It was such a fun experience to build that business from the ground up and, at first, I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, small business ownership is hard and time consuming and comes with a lot of sacrifice. I was spending every waking hour on the business and thinking about it every non-waking hour!! I was having a hard time finding help at the shop and although I had a few lovely gals working for me, I didn’t have enough help and was working every weekend. I missed all of my kids’ soccer games and activities and I was wholly burnt out by fall 2023.

I decided that something needed to change and I had a choice to make. I thought about just closing the business owner chapter all together and filing it under, “tried it and it just wasn’t for me” but I had only completed two and a half years of a 5 year lease and I didn’t want to let my landlord down. I also had this amazing space right on Santa Fe in DOP which is not easy to come by! Plus, I had worked so hard and put so much money into building the business that I was having a hard time walking away completely. So, I thought, “What can I do that will be so much fun that it will be worth the time, hard work, and sacrifice?” And I came up with books! I LOVE to read. Always have. And, over COVID I had really gotten back into reading and it was such an amazing outlet and escape. In fact, we had a free little library at the boutique and I would chat with my customers about what we were reading. It was even more fun than talking about clothes!! Plus Bookstagram and BookTock had really taken off making chatting about books really popular and a fun way to connect with other book lovers.

So, I announced the closing of my clothing boutique and liquidated all of my inventory. I took the holiday season of 2023 to take a break and be with my family. During that time, my husband took out the clothing racks and built me bookshelves. He also repurposed the fitting rooms as book nooks for kids to curl up and read in. Really and truly, I am only able to have this shop because my husband supports me and believes in me so much!

In March of 2024, I reopened in the same location with a slightly modified name (The Pretty Posy Books & Gifts.) We opened with a wonderful reception, and I was so excited and grateful with how the new shop was received and all of the book lovers that came to support us.

Thankfully, I did not have a hard time finding booksellers at all! I hired 10 part-time booksellers who are just as lovely as can be and I have job inquiries daily. I mean who wouldn’t want to work at a bookstore?! This allows me to be with my family on the weekends and have a better (even if not perfect!) work/life balance. Unlike the clothing boutique, the bookstore fills me up. I LOVE being at the shop and chatting with people about books! We also host author events, story times, and book clubs. which are always a ball!

Not long after opening the bookstore, it became apparent that the name, The Pretty Posy, was not the best name. It was a cute name, but not very bookish and it caused confusion about what kind of shop we are. I decided to change that right away in order to have a name that could grow with the business. We transitioned to Ink & Page Book Boutique in the winter of 2025.

The bookstore has been open a little over a year at this point. I still find business ownership to be the hardest thing that I have ever done. And I had 3 kids in just over 3 years, so that’s saying something!! But, I have really enjoyed learning about the book business and connecting with authors, book influencers, and all the book lovers that come to see us. I look forward to growing and a business that serves my family, brings me joy, and creates a warm and welcoming space for book lovers to celebrate the joy of reading. The book loving community is really something special and I am grateful to be a part of it!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Small business ownership is NOT for the faint of heart! It takes a lot of time, dedication, and money to build a business. There are high highs and low lows in business and I would say that those who are successful are those who just keep going no matter what. Business ownership is really just coming across challenge after challenge and getting gritty to figure out how you’re going to solve them. Building a small business has been a huge learning curve.

Some of the biggest struggles that I have come across in this business are the ebbs and flows of retail and finding, managing, and delegating to staff.

As far as retail, some months are spectacular sales months and some are not and it can be hard to stay positive and motivated during the slow times. I’m learning how to handle these ebbs and flows with grace and positivity as well as how to focus on building community within my small business because that’s really where the magic happens, I think!

Finding help, managing people, and delegating has also been a huge learning experience for me, and I am constantly learning and growing as a leader. Fortunately, I have found plenty of part time booksellers who are hardworking, sweet, and supp0rtive. My next goal is to find a general shop manager who can take on a leadership role and responsibilities so that I can focus on building the business into something even bigger and better for the book lovers who we are so fortunate to serve.

The biggest challenge of building this business has been handling overwhelm, keeping burnout at bay, and managing work/life balance. I have definitely become a bit better at these things in the last year, and the bookstore brings me much more joy than the clothing boutique did, but I still have a lot to learn here!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My bookstore is what I like to call a book boutique! We are a small shop where all of the books are hand-picked by me. I spend hours going through publisher’s catalogs and choosing just the right books for our customers. We carry all genres and have something for most book lovers (and we can always order almost any book!), but we specialize in books for book lovers who read for the fun of it – especially women book lovers because I know them best!!

Here is a little bit more about us from our Google Business listing:

Tucked into the heart of charming Downtown Overland Park, KS, our indie bookstore is proudly woman-owned and women-run by avid readers – because the best bookstores are built by true booklovers!

We believe reading should be fun, so we’ve stocked our shelves with handpicked, unputdownable reads that are the perfect escape, bring you joy, and ignite the irresistible urge for just one more chapter.

Whether you’re after the hottest new release, a hidden gem, or just a good bookish chat, consider it handled by our sweet booksellers!

Come in, get lost in our fabulous bookshelves, and let’s talk stories. Because the only thing better than reading a great book is gushing about it afterward!

What matters most to you?
Creating a space for book lovers to connect over the joy of reading is what matters to me the most. I myself get so much joy from chatting and connecting with the people who come into this shop and creating these connections along with supporting authors and meeting book influencers has been some of the most fun that I have ever had! And although this is a business and making money is very important to both the success of this place and the wellbeing of my family, these connections mean more to me than any amount of money the shop could possibly make.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://inkandpagebooks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inkandpagekc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkandpagekc