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Retail

DEMDACO Moves Into the Brick-and-Mortar Space

DEMDACO, a Leawood-based company that makes ornaments and other gifts that are sold online and through catalogs, is opening its first retail store, at the Legends Outlets, in Kansas City, Kan. The location will be just under 2,500 square feet,… more

Will Payless ShoeSource Make a Comeback?

Topeka-based Payless ShoeSource has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and management is geared up for a comeback. In some ways, the retailer, which closed all of its 2,300 North American stores last year, never really went away. It operates 420… more

Macy’s Departure To Leave Retail Hole in Prairie Village

About 120,000 square feet of retail space will become vacant when Macy's shuts its doors at Prairie Village Shopping Center. The city's mayor, Eric Mikkelson, announced at a city council meeting that the center's owner, First Washington Realty, told him… more

Hallmark ‘Transformation’ Includes Laying off 400

Hallmark Cards is laying off about 400 employees in its greeting-card, retail and corporate-support divisions as part of what management is calling a transformation in an attempt to adapt to changing consumer preferences. "The way people shop and the competitive… more

Houlihan’s Joining Landry’s Restaurant Empire

Leawood-based Houlihan's + Bar restaurants, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year, is being acquired by Landry's, the Houston-based company that owns 600 restaurants, including the McCormick & Schmick's, Joe's Crab Shack and Rainforest Cafe chains, among others.… more

Hostess Buying Voortman for $320M

Hostess Brands is purchasing Voortman Cookies Limited for $320 million from a San Francisco-based private-equity firm, boosting its exposure to the cookie category. “Voortman is a leading brand with a well-defined consumer position that complements and extends the growing Hostess… more

EPR Divests Charter-School Portfolio

EPR Properties, one of the Kansas City area's largest public companies, has exited the charter-school business to better focus on its core portfolio of experiential-entertainment real estate. The Kansas City-based real estate investment trust sold 47 assets in its charter-school… more

$350M Plan Would Redevelop Freighthouse Area

A $350-million plan made up of multi-story mixed-use buildings, including hundreds of residential units, has been submitted to the city in an ambitious move to transform the Freighthouse area, just to the south of The Crossroads neighborhood. The plan, put… more

Westlake Ace Hardware Buying N.Y. State Chain

Lenexa-based Westlake Ace Hardware continues its national expansion, purchasing a three-store chain in New York State, its first locations in the Northeast. Westlake is buying Haggerty Ace Hardware, founded in 1992, with stores in Cooperstown, Delhi and Walton, all in… more

Q&A: Chase Exec Outlines KC Expansion Plans

JP Morgan Chase & Co. has started its expansion into the Kansas City area. Last week was the official opening of a retail branch in Leawood, and another location, on the Missouri side in Kansas City, will open at 7701… more