Vintage clothing brand making new home in Kansas City: ‘Creating more of a hub’
A Kansas City vintage clothing store will open soon in a larger storefront in the West Bottoms and feature a café upstairs.
“I think this new chapter of our store is it just has more opportunity for more connection and like more community, more events, and more collaboration with local businesses,” said Rex co-owner Reade Rex.
Rex, which began in the Crossroads in 2017, sells vintage shirts, polos, hoodies, denim and jackets, as well as their own line of upcycled merch.
The vintage shop is moving from its West Bottoms location at 1420 W. 13th Terrace Floor 2, to 1280 Liberty St. This will be their third location and features two floors. Rex’s first floor will have inventory, fitting rooms, a bathroom and the checkout counter.
Co-owners (and brothers) Reade and Thomas Rex signed the lease for the space in December. Three months ago they were given the opportunity to use the second floor. What was originally a condo has been transformed by the two into a café. The brick walls have been painted white, and the space features large windows, area rugs, pendant lighting, couches and patio tables.
“We had some really successful events at our current location, where we just brought out a lot of people who didn’t have like brick and mortar; they would sell coffee and matcha, and we had a DJ play music,” Reade Rex said.
“We started having like some small like community events there, and then I think we just decided that it just made sense, like why not just have our own café, there’s a need for it, and we already have the café vibe is already built out with like our decor and our seating and like lighting,” he said.
After doing some research into what the business model looks like, the brothers hired a barista with managerial experience and partnered with Marcell Coffee Roasters. Rex plans to serve matcha, cold brew, drip, espresso and various pastries.
“It’s kind of like creating more of a hub,” Thomas Rex said, adding that they would be hosting more events in the space. “The second floor is going to be more for hanging out.”
It’s the first step, according to the brothers, in them becoming more than vintage clothing and focusing more on bringing people together and curating an experience.
“Our customers have built our brand into what it is,” Reade Rex said. “We started it as something and then people respond in a certain way to certain things, and you try to just grow with what people are responding to.”
The new location plans to open July 17 and have an opening party featuring a live band with local vendors and food. The first 100 shoppers get goodie bags with various Rex merch.
