KC needs elevated ambience, founder says; how her soon-to-open Westwood home store sets the table for ‘touches of trend’
December 6, 2024 | Joyce Smith
The moment local shoppers — aspiring to better entertain friends and loved ones — heard what Sarah Brown’s online store was offering, her home and lifestyle business “just blew up,” she said, detailing the demand now pushing the brand’s jump to brick and mortar.
Place setting by Blair & Blythe; courtesy photo
“It showed that people in Kansas City need and want what I’m offering,” said Brown, founder of Blair & Blythe, which focuses on traditional merchandise for the home with “touches of trend” — European brands, vintage, and other items unique to the metro.
“People in the South are just masters of hosting,” continued Brown, who spent time in Texas working in retail. “Seeing that hole in the market, I wanted to bring it here.”
Through its three-year-old online shop, Blair & Blythe carries “elevated tabletop” items including fine china, flatware, drinkware, cocktail and dinner napkins, tablecloths and table runners, and candleholders, as well as stationery, lamps, Mahjong game accessories, and furniture (currently swivel chairs, bar carts, Winchester chests, rattan coffee tables and more).
Click here to check out Blair & Blythe on Instagram.
Blair & Blythe’s popularity with locals online inspired Brown to explore a physical space in the metro — ultimately leading her and her husband to purchase a two-story, nearly 6,000-square-foot building at 4812 Rainbow Blvd. in Westwood in 2023.
View this post on Instagram
Renovation work on the building — formerly Ambience Furs, also owned by a local couple, which had long operated in the space, but closed last year when the owners retired — is near completion with Blair & Blythe tying up inspections and other finishing touches.
“It’s a very old building, built in 1930, and we are giving it new life,” said Brown, who is trained as a professional counselor, primarily working with adults with personality disorders, and substance abuse issues, as well as couples counseling.
Rehabbing the Westwood space — which includes a new floor plan, design consultation room, and shipping and receiving dock — gave Brown a new creative outlet from the counseling job; a diversion that also fueled the initial creation of Blair & Blythe, she said.
An opening date for the brick and mortar has not yet been announced.
Click here to follow Blair & Blythe’s journey to opening.
The mid-renovation Blair & Blythe storefront at 4812 Rainbow Blvd. in Westwood; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Place setting by Blair & Blythe; courtesy photo
The shop will have a gift and wedding registry, and Brown wants to launch her own luxury curated line of table linens and tabletop pieces.
For the holidays, Brown already has pulled together stag head serving sets and bowls, Candy Stripe & Checks lumbar pillows, and tartan check assorted dish towels.
“After COVID we all understand the importance of coming together,” Brown said. “To have a story laid out on your table I think is just so special.”
Startland News contributor Joyce Smith covered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star. Click here to follower on X (formerly Twitter), here for Facebook, here for Instagram, and by following #joyceinkc on Threads.
2024 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Black Pantry expands nationally through online shop; founder works to set new standard for buying Black
Kansas City’s premier boutique for Black-owned essentials always had its sights set on building a national identity, said Brian Roberts, but he needed to prove himself and his business on the local level first. “A lot of people were pushing me in the beginning to go the website direction, but I didn’t want to do…
LaunchKC finalists: Meet 13 tech startups vying for six $50K grants in rebooted competition
A revived LaunchKC grants competition is set to return in mid-November with more than a dozen companies vying for $300,000 in non-dilutive funding. Finalists were announced Friday. The 13 Kansas City companies selected to compete Nov. 15 were narrowed from more than 90 applicants, said Becca Castro, strategic initiatives manager at the Economic Development Corporation…
Mushroom lover finds the perfect spot to hunt: Her own warehouse in North Kansas City
Robin Moore loves to cook with mushrooms, but she couldn’t always find the variety — like Lion’s Mane — she wanted at Kansas City stores. So she started growing them herself; ultimately turning the surplus into her own small business. “I’ve researched and kind of taught myself,” said the founder of MyCo Planet, who initially…
KC firm invests $56M in LGTB+ owned 10KC to reimagine a more inclusive workplace (that employees won’t want to leave)
A funding infusion from a leading Kansas City venture capital firm comes at a critical time as employees struggle to connect in a hybrid work world, said Ten Thousand Coffees (10KC), announcing its first institutional raise since the company’s 2014 formation in Toronto. Originally bootstrapped, 10KC will use the $56 million investment from Five Elms…