‘I can’t believe you’re closing’: Kansas City area thrift shop shutting doors for good
Lori Siegel weaves through rows of walkers, chairs and fine china.
“Don’t get overwhelmed,” she says, only half-jokingly, before flipping on the lights.
The store name, “A-Lotta-Stuff,” is fitting. Knickknacks pack the warehouse store’s wide walls and high ceilings.
Siegel has run the store at 6700 Kaw Drive in Kansas City, Kansas, since 2004. Her father, Stanley Simon, owned the shopping center it occupies before he died in 2005. Now, she has weeks left to clear out her piles of things before she closes at the end of August. She has decided to retire.
Siegel has already begun to discount most of her items and will continue as the closing date inches closer, eventually bringing a large portion of her inventory down to $1.
Customers can keep up to date on the bargains through the shop’s Facebook page, A-Lotta-Stuff at Stan’s LLC: Thrift Store. (Siegel also sells items through Facebook Marketplace.)
Siegel has obtained many of her items after cleaning out the homes of people who have died, a separate service she offers. She recalled several stories of finding rare items while digging through closets, comforting families and collecting unwanted belongings.
“I become very involved in that little family’s situation for the week, two weeks, month, whatever it is,” she said. “I’m going through their family’s history.”
The store, she said, likely reminds customers of “Grandma’s house.”
It’s almost like a museum, she added, filled with vintage and rare items. She believes the antiques and aged furniture have attracted “happy ghosts.”
“People have come in and said, ‘Your store’s really haunted. … But they’re so happy that you didn’t let their stuff go in the dumpster,’” she said.
Her hundreds of pieces range from wedding dresses to bookcases, tablecloths, candleholders and picture frames.
Outside, a red and yellow sign reading “Stan’s” towers over the shopping center. The area was once home to Siegel’s father’s grocery store, which opened in 1955.
The center has gone through many changes, adding space and evolving. Simon opened a dry goods store next, which morphed into a hardware store.
Then, in 2004, Simon opened the thrift shop with Siegel. The “Stan’s” sign that has stood tall for decades will be donated to the Lumi Neon Museum, dedicated to preserving vintage neon signs. The museum is set to open inside the upcoming Pennway Point entertainment district on Kansas City’s West Side.
The developer could not be reached to comment on the district’s opening date.
Siegel hopes to spend her retirement with her husband, children and grandchildren, but she’ll still miss rifling through old clothes in the shop. Vacating the space is bittersweet.
Photos of her father adorn the shop’s entryway next to other old valuables.
“So many people come in, and they go, ‘I can’t believe you’re closing. I’m gonna miss you,’” she said.
A-Lotta-Stuff is open from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.