Shop Local KC moving its flagship maker store to Brookside, expects flower business to bloom

Shop Local KC is closing its flagship Midtown location as it prepares to open a new storefront in Brookside Sept. 1, according to owner Katie Mabry Van Dieren.

The retail gift and flower shop plans to depart its original location at 3630 Main St. as the building developer, Exact Partners, seeks to use the space for other purposes, Mabry van Dieren shared.

Shop Local KC’s Brookside storefront

“[Exact Partners] did tell me at the very beginning it would be a two-year lease and then month-to-month thereafter because they were looking to sell this building,” Mabry van Dieren said. “I knew that coming into it … so this [space] is going to become a different business, and it’s time for us to go now.”

“I probably wouldn’t have left if I didn’t have to, but I’m very happy and honored to have been here and worked with [Exact Partners], and I hope to work with them in a property on Main Street in the future,” she added.

RELATED: How Shop Local KC’s new Main Street storefront crafts opportunity for makers, Midtown

Though Mabry van Dieren would have liked for Shop Local KC to retain its presence in Midtown, she’s grateful for an opportunity to be in Brookside, she said.

“When I opened the Midtown store in 2021, I actually wanted to be in Brookside, but there was no available space,” Mabry van Dieren said. “I’m so excited to be in Brookside. I live in Brookside, and it’s always been my dream to ride my bike to my shop.”

The Brookside storefront — which will take over the recently-relocated Lady Bye store at 6245 Brookside Plaza — will be significantly smaller than the Midtown location, down to 650 square feet from 6,500 square feet, according to Mabry van Dieren.

Because of that, Shop Local KC’s Brookside location will focus primarily on flowers, Mabry van Dieren said, adding that the store will fill a gap, as the neighborhood currently lacks a dedicated flower shop.

Mabry van Dieren is also looking forward to adding to the diversity of local businesses in Brookside, she said.

“I’m just really excited to be a woman-owned business there,” Mabry van Dieren said. “Some of my favorite woman-owned businesses are in Brookside. … Every business pretty much is locally owned, and of course that’s my mission and vision, so it’s just a perfect fit.”

Shop Local KC's Crown Center store; photo courtesy of Shop Local KC

Shop Local KC's Crown Center store; photo courtesy of Shop Local KC

Swing into new territory

This year had already been busy for Shop Local KC, Mabry van Dieren noted, as the company opened a location inside Crown Center at the beginning of April.

That storefront alone has put nearly $100,000 into the hands of local makers since opening, she said, which helps to ease the transition from Midtown to Brookside.

“We’ll still be buying from the same makers, and a lot of them who we used to buy from [at the Midtown location] who won’t go [to the Brookside store] with us are in our Crown Center store,” Mabry van Dieren said. “We have now supported even more makers since we opened this store in Midtown because we have two other locations, so it’s been really great.”

Shop Local KC previously opened a new shop in July 2022 within nbkc bank in Leawood.

RELATED: Shop Local KC gets minimalist makeover as local maker retailer opens Leawood store

Strawberry Swing Indie Craft Fair; photo courtesy of Shop Local KC

Mabry van Dieren — who founded the Strawberry Swing Indie Craft Fair in 2011 before creating Shop Local KC — will also bring the 13th annual Holiday Swing to Crown Center this winter, she shared.

The event is expected to run Fridays through Sundays, beginning on Black Friday and extending through Dec. 17.

“We really love that Crown Center has an ice skating rink; we love that Crown Center has the mayor’s Christmas tree; it has all those precious wooden Christmas holiday decorations, and my store is right inside,” Mabry van Dieren said.

Mabry van Dieren hopes that Holiday Swing will attract residents and tourists to Crown Center during the winter holiday season, creating a similar environment to other cities like New York and Chicago that have outdoor Christmas markets.

“This will be the first time anything like that has been done at Crown Center, and we hope it becomes a real destination for people coming from out of town — people coming from everywhere,” Mabry van Dieren said.

Makers take flight

In addition to her work with Shop Local KC and The Strawberry Swing, Mabry van Dieren was tasked with curating products from local makers at a shop in the new airport terminal earlier this year, she shared.

18th and Vine gift shop at the new KCI airport terminal; photo by Channa Steinmetz, Startland News

“It was a very quick deal,” Mabry van Dieren recalled. “They reached out to me and said, ‘We have to open a store in two weeks. Can you help us?’ and I was like, ‘Yes, you came to the right place.’”

The store was pre-named the 18th and Vine Travel Station, though it includes the work of makers from across the city, according to Mabry van Dieren.

“It’s full of locally-made items from the makers who I knew could get a lot of items made really fast, so we got to curate that,” she said. “I am honored that I got to do that. It was really fun.”

Mabry van Dieren believes that the airport is now working directly with the makers, which she said helps them make more money from their work.

“It was wonderful because it put almost $60,000 into the hands of local artists and makers,” she said. “Any time we can do that, I’m very proud of that.”