The River Market’s vintage streetcar — Trolley Tom — to house local retail shop, cafe
A vintage Kansas City streetcar — now permanently parked in the River Market — will soon be home to locally owned Made in Kansas City.
Made in Kansas City focuses on the work of about 300 local artists, designers and makers. It has six area locations selling items from MADE Urban Apparel, FarmDog Studios, Christopher Elbow Chocolates, SewKC, Kansas City Canning Co., Sandlot Goods and more.
Its new location, at 426 Delaware St., is expected to open in early spring.
“The ‘trolley come to life’ is a unique opportunity for us,” said Keith Bradley, a partner in Made in Kansas City. “And just being in the River Market. It is a growing and bustling part of Kansas City that we are not a part of and we are excited to be down there.”
The Denver-based Epoch Developments, which was founded in 2015, owns the streetcar and about 10 of the 18 buildings on a three-block stretch of Delaware, between Third Street and Independence Avenue.
Betty Rae’s Ice Cream, Freestyle Poke and Our Daily Nada “boozy bookstore” recently opened in Epoch buildings in the stretch.
The old streetcar ran Kansas City routes from 1947 to 1957. Then it was a tourist attraction operating in Toronto and downtown San Francisco until 1979, when it was sold and placed in storage.
In 2006, the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance purchased and restored the streetcar and brought it to Kansas City to be displayed at Union Station, until 2016.
Epoch then restored it as part of its River Market redevelopment and dubbed it “Trolley Tom” after Tom Trabon, a prominent River Market redeveloper.
Made in Kansas City’s new River Market shop also will sell coffee, beer and wine, as well as some food items. It will have limited seating inside and on two new decks planned for the north and south sides.
“I really wanted an iconic piece at that location,” said Craig Slawson, owner of Epoch Developments, of the vintage streetcar. “It is the entry to the market and where the Kansas City Streetcar makes the turn.”