CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Mary Kay Novak McGrath didn’t live to see her vision for a bookstore come to fruition in Czech Village, but a new shop carries on her legacy.
“I’ll Meet You There,” a bookstore and forthcoming coffee shop, opened Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, at 62 16th Ave. SW, in the heart of Czech Village.
A steady stream of customers perused the shelves during its grand opening, one day after another snowstorm dumped a half-foot of snow on Cedar Rapids.
Inside, cozy chairs and a kids corner, where children can color and read, welcome guests into the bookstore, with a pressed-tin ceiling echoing an earlier era of Czech Village.
Children’s artwork lines a magnet board inside the bookstore. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Work remains underway on the other half of the building, soon to open as a coffee shop.
“We’re hoping to have it open by the end of next week, if everything goes to plan,” manager Lucy Steele said of the coffee shop, which will feature a variety of coffee drinks, along with tea, energy drinks and French Pastry by Sandrine.
About 1,200 books were ordered for the store’s opening, with more on the way, Steele said. Top book picks have “Reader to Reader” recommendations dotted throughout the shop, written by clerks and the store owners.
The shop will be open during its inaugural week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
Related: New store opens in Czech Village
The bookstore’s hours are shown on its door, though opening week hours will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Owners Lindsay and Jaymie McGrath, the daughters of Pat and Mary Kay McGrath, opened the store in what had been Hospoda pizzeria from December 2021 to October 2023.
Prior to that, the building housed a series of bars, including the Red Baron Bar & Dance Club, which opened in 2010, after the record 2008 flood devastated Czech Village, and later, Aces and Eights Saloon, which closed in 2021.
Throughout its history, the building; actually two buildings, at 64 and 62 16th Ave. SW, was home to a variety of bars, such as Novotny’s Tavern and Bohemian Villa Tavern, both in the 1960s; the Czech Inn in the 1970s and 1980s, and Bruceski’s Tavern in the 1990s. Bremmer Pharmacy was located in one side of the building in the 1960s, with the 16th Avenue Commercial Club located upstairs in the 1960s and 1970s.
Even earlier, the two-story portion of the building, built around the turn of the 20th Century, housed various businesses, including a cigar shop and potato chip factory.
The building rebounded after 8 feet of floodwaters from the Cedar River raged through in June 2008.
Don Barrigar and Mary Kay Novak McGrath are shown after receiving “visionaries” awards in 2022. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Mary Kay McGrath, known as the Angel of Czech Village, purchased eight Czech Village buildings in 2018 that had been inundated by the unprecedented flood, transforming them into an old-fashioned candy story/ice cream shop, cafe and more.
She died at age 69 in February 2024, after battling cancer.
Her daughters fulfilled one of Mary Kay’s wishes in opening the shop, Steele said.
“From what I’m told, Mary Kay had always wanted to see a bookstore down here,” she said. “They felt the time was right to honor her and do that.”
The bookstore’s name is significant to the family, as “I’ll meet you there” was a phrase Pat and Mary Kay McGrath often shared.
“It spoke to their unwavering love and trust, a promise that no matter the destination, they would always find one another,” their website notes. “This sentiment is so cherished in the McGrath family that Mary Kay’s headstone bears those very words, a message of comfort and faith: she will meet her loved ones again in Heaven.”
More: See photos from the dedication of Novak Plaza in Czech Village and more photos from the bookstore’s opening day, below:
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