Market for small businesses at KC’s Union Station draws visitors — and surprises
Since June, visitors and locals have been able to engage with over 100 local businesses, brands, artists, creators and food vendors in one of Kansas City’s most iconic landmarks, Union Station.
But with the World Cup in Kansas City coming to close, the City of Entrepreneurs Market is also winding down.
With thousands of tourists expected to stay in Kansas City throughout the World Cup tournament, the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City members set up the market intending to bring more exposure to local businesses.
Now, as the market enters its final weekend, The Star asked several participants how the initiative went and if it met their expectations. Six of them interviewed by The Star said it’s brought surprises in who visits and what they buy — plus unexpected benefits of meeting other entrepreneurs and building connections.
‘Midwestern people’ buying souvenirs
Customers in general have gravitated more to smaller objects, souvenir goods, and soccer-themed items rather than large bags, candles and glass items. That includes glass bottles of Jeff Danciak’s hot sauce brand, Pure Pepper Co.
Prior to the City of Entrepreneurs, owners Danciak and Scott Melin tried to figure out how they could ship their hot sauces to tourists who live outside the United States. In the end, it didn’t become an issue.
“Local people are buying all our stuff. Local people, people who are here shopping in the area. There’s a lot of people from St. Louis, Chicago, Midwestern people. Those people that are coming to watch the Fan Fest are ones buying our stuff,” Danciak said.
What’s been big for them has been the ability for larger companies like Rally House and Taste of Kansas City to try their selection of hot sauces. The pair hopes a store picks up their products.
“You know, we think that internationally it’s going to be this overflow of spending all this income money and stuff that you’re going to get,” Cherhea Frazier, owner of Systa Slay Boutique. “It wasn’t that, but we did make money, I can say that I did make money, and that was a great thing. The connections that I made are priceless.”
Zehra Gunlap, who owns Nine Leather & Watch, said she noticed people were gravitating toward her smaller leather good items and that most of her customers from the United States. She and her husband normally have a booth during Christmastime, and this time of the year tends to be a slump, so she was grateful for the brand exposure.
Crissy Brice, who owns Brice Farm and Fragrance with her husband, sell candles, wax melts, potpourri, linen spray and perfume said that a lot of the customers they have come across had no prior knowledge of the City of Entrepreneurs. In fact, many were tourists who stumbled on it after getting off the Amtrak, wanting to see the iconic train station. It’s been different from their previous experiences at craft fairs and pop-ups.
“This is a totally new environment,” she said. “When we sign up for something, we already have an idea of how many people are going to come, and they come to purchase. Here it’s a little different, it’s a different type of customer because they came here for soccer.”
Was market worth it?
Despite the fact that many people walking through aren’t ready to open their wallets, Crissy Brice said that they are glad they took the opportunity. And even though renting a booth cost $4,000, it was worth ensuring their products weren’t exposed to the elements outdoors, like other entrepreneur events might be canceled due to extreme weather.
“It took everything we had to get this spot, and we’re so thankful we did, not only financially, but the networking that we’ve had. We’ve had a lot of people come through in here, and it’s the experience and the networking that we’ve got from this as well,” she said.
Along with what Gunlap said, Brice Farm and Fragrance’s smaller products have done a lot better. The car diffuser sales surprised them, Crissy Brice said.
“(Customers) can customize it. So they’ve had a lot of fun picking a design out. I printed the team flags, so then I’ll take about three minutes. So they put their team flag on the back, and it’s really fun, because you’ll have people split families, they’ll get a US Senate flag and a Mexico flag, or you know, their Netherlands, and pick another team, so it’s not just been their own team,” she said.
Bryne Hughes, who sells vintage clothes out of the Hera Collective booth, a group of 12 local creative women, reiterated with others that she has noticed she has sold more goods to locals than travelers. The travelers through have been gravitating to jewelry. One of the other women in the collective is Paulina Otero, a KC local who designs her own line of jewelry.
“Jewelry definitely has been flying, anything that you can take easily with you,” Hughes said. “Like Paulina has done really well, I think, in terms of volume, because it’s little things you could literally wear on your body. If people are going to a game, or if they’re going to the Fan Fest, or whatever, they can’t really be hauling a bunch of stuff around.”
What has really stood out to Hughes, though, was how event producer Jess Rogers, who was contracted by the city to plan the event, was so flexible and receptive to feedback.
“They’ve been adapting to the needs of the small business owners, so they’ve been taking votes, they’ve been seeking feedback to see how we can improve over time,” Hughes said.
One example was in the early days of the initiative, when security to get in was very intense. There were several security guards and metal detectors customers had to go through, which created a line extending out the Union Station doors. After changes, security remained in the area, but the level of it brought down, making the entry less daunting.
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Rogers, who has previously been involved with planning Boulevardia and KC’s Irish Festival, said this was a completely different beast to tackle. In the past, she had known how many people were attending; here, it was open-ended.
“We didn’t really know what to plan for and what to do, so I think the learning with this one to take into future projects would be like how the people said, something I think is a strength, is we pivoted constantly,” she said.
“I’ve been hearing, normally retail in July is dead, so it’s great that this has been a boost for people. It’s great that it’s been in the center of all the action,” Rogers said. “This initiative, the City of Entrepreneurs, is a bigger initiative that holds open doors and will continue for the next three years. “
Rogers added that the city is looking to do a similar event during the holiday season at Current Landing near the stadium, as well as other initiatives going forward.
“The city and I are doing a survey to send to all the vendors, and we ask questions like what sold well, what didn’t sell good. From just what I’ve heard, people want the soccer stuff, they want little things that are a souvenir from Kansas City if they’re traveling,” Rogers said.
The last days of the City of Entrepreneurs will be Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
