16. Bob Jones Shoes
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (816) 474-4212
Address: 1914 Grand
Description: You’re bound to find your sole-mate at Bob Jones. At any given time more than 100,000 pairs of designer shoes line the racks at up to 70 percent off retail. Sure, a few in the back room are a little dated, unless you want bright blue pumps with 6-inch heels, but 98 percent of the inventory consists of top names found at the finest department stores. For women that includes Enrico Gori, Via Spiga, Stuart Weitzman, Joan & David, and Calvin Klein. Men can choose from Johnston Murphy, Kenneth Cole, Bostonian, Rockport, and more. Bob Jones also carries a limited number of athletic shoes and unique women’s handbags. Just look for the wooden Indian in front.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Address: 8500 Marshall Dr.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Address: 13900 E. 35th St. South
19. Brookside Market
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Description: This lively mix of local and certified organic famers provide freshly picked vegetables and fruits, fragrant herbs, edible cut flowers, and free-range egg and honey products. Green Dirt Farm, in Weston, brings lamb products and artisanal cheeses. Opening day at Brookside is mid-Apr and it goes until mid-Oct. You’ll want to schedule the entire day here; after you pick up a dozen ears of sweet-as-sugar corn and get a bag of brownies to go, visit the Brookside shops just across the street.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
21. Kc Organics
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Description: This market doesn’t draw nearly the crowds of others in town. But that’s just fine with the picky consumers who show up every Sat from May through mid-Oct. Shorter lines mean you can actually talk to the farmers about their green beans, fingerling potatoes, apples, peaches, and exotic-looking Japanese eggplant. But don’t expect picture-perfect specimens. A few bug-ravaged tomatoes prove that everything is certified pesticide- and chemical-free.Many of the growers also bring prepared foods such as jellies, jams, salsas, and even hand-milled soap. You may also be treated to live music and cooking demonstrations. The second location, in Leawood’s beautiful Park Place open-air shopping area, is open Wed, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Aug through Sept.
22. Marche Du Jour
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (573) 584-3385
Address: 3920 W. 69th Terrace (Prairie Village Sh
Description: Every Sat from May through Oct, Mother Nature shows up in the guise of Sally at Widgeonwood Farms (even the name sounds like something organic) with just-picked heirloom tomatoes, wild plums, slender asparagus stalks, and other organic delights. But some regulars come to Marche du Jour to stock pantries rather than vegetable bins. Each week brings new jars of treats, such as dilled green beans, Italian parsley pesto, port wine cranberry relish, tomato-basil-Vidalia dressing, and wild plum butter. There is rarely enough to go around; get there by 9 a.m. or you may be disappointed. Sally also makes decadent sweets, including biscotti dipped in white chocolate, chocolate English toffee, and chocolate raspberry truffle sauce.
23. Overland Park Farmers’ Market
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (913) 642-2222
Description: It can get pretty crowded on a summer Wed or Sat morning as people stand in line for just-picked watermelons, fat blueberries, Big Boy tomatoes, and peaches-and-cream corn, a variety so sweet and tender you can practically eat it raw. There’s always a display or two of cutting flowers in bouquets, locally produced honey, and more. To keep things lively, several times a month a live band will entertain the crowds at the Clock Tower, an old-fashioned public square a few stairs up from the market area. Get there early for a seat outside, or duck into Farm to Market Cafe or Homer’s Coffeehouse for a cappuccino and a muffin and grab a chair on the patio.
24. Asiatica Ltd.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (913) 831-0831
Address: 4824 Rainbow Blvd.
Description: Fans of this shop report Asiatica sightings all over the world—in a posh hotel lobby in New York City, in the shadow of the Sistine Chapel—because its fashions, made from old Japanese kimonos, are so distinctive. Each year Elizabeth Wilson travels to the Far East to hand select vintage fabrics or exquisite new textiles, then brings them back home to get glorious new lives as vests, flowing jackets, blouses, and wraps.
25. Churchill
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (913) 262-5240
Address: 5240 Belinder
Description: Chances are, the booty in the coveted Oscar swag bag is on Churchill’s shelves before the telecast is over. Just how does a tiny shop in the heart of Kansas City get such a scoop? Leave it to Churchill’s vivacious owner, Sally Hilkene. Sally’s unerring eye for taste serves her well, as she fills her shop with an eclectic collection of treasures for the home and personal adornments. Fancy the handbag the young Hollywood star was sporting in a celebrity magazine? Check with Sally first. Though Sally follows the trends, her inventory consists of pieces that will stand the test of time. And speaking of that, did you see her selection of divine watches?
26. Feng
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (913) 498-0530
Address: 5029 W. 119th St. (Hawthorne Plaza)
Description: Just look at the handcrafted door handles and you know you’re entering the shop of a woman who digs the details. In feng (as in feng shui, the Asian art of design and placement that brings harmony) Beth Zollars has created an oasis of style and refinement in the middle of suburbia. Just for an hour you’ll be transported to a chic neighborhood in SoHo or L.A. or Hong Kong, filled with precious antiques, designer fashions, and one-of-a-kind accessories that you simply must have.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Address: 211 Nichols Rd. (Country Club Plaza)
28. Mitzy London’S
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (913) 661-1775
Address: 4541 W. 119th St. (Leawood)
Description: Frankly, we’d follow adorable Kelly Cook anywhere, especially when it’s to her fabulous shop that invites your girly-girl self to come out and play. Against a color scheme of deep pink and black, you may see moms shopping with pre-teen daughters, girlfriends meeting before a lunch date at one of the nearby restaurants, or an entire bridal party sitting down to high tea in the room in back. The fashion will catch your eye; Kelly hand picks each frothy cocktail dress or bright trench, every exquisite shoe, all the must-have accessories. And her hand is also in the home decor including fabrics, pillows, and giftware. Can’t choose between the LBD and the red number? Here, have another cup of oolong and a cupcake.
29. Nolte’S Bridal
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (913) 345-1122
Address: 5057 W. 119th St.
Description: Weddings are all about the dress; once that’s conquered, everything else falls into place. If only it were that simple. That’s what a seasoned wedding planner is for. Michael Nolte has been fitting Kansas City’s most knowing brides for more than 30 years. Naturally, Nolte’s carries the best designers, including Vera Wang, Badgley Mischka, Monique Lhuillier, and Priscilla of Boston. And now, based on decades of tweaking styles, the wedding planner has his own line of exquisite wedding gowns. At the Briarcliff Village location (possibly the most glamorous wedding salon in the land), the ever-charming owner introduced an exciting collection of cocktail dresses and formal gowns for weddings and beyond.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Shopping
Address: 2710 W. 53rd St.