Kansas City????

My wife and I are seriously considering moving from Denver to Kansas City and opening our business there. We have a small import shop - we direct import from Thailand, Nepal, Bali, and carry a lot of stuff from India. Lots of clothes and jewelry, also Buddhist and Hindu religious stuff.

I was wondering if there's anyone here at DU who lives in KC or is familiar with the city who might have any advice. Is this a good idea?
Would our store go over well? What's KC like?

Sorry, I was listening to the score from "Oklahoma!" last night. :-)

I've never been there. I heard it's a nice city.

Kansas City, here I come.... ;)

Sorry.

I like MO. One of our best presidents was from there. But I've never been there.

We liked it.

Live on the Missouri side... taxes are lower, and you'll pay a lot less for your house. Many Kansans will say that the schools are better in Kansas, but Blue Springs (where we lived) has excellent schools.

Plus, Missouri is a swing state, whereas in Kansas, you might as well be a republican for all your presidential vote will count.

On the minus side, the roads really suck in MO; it's pothole city.

No kidding! I can definitely tell when I've crossed state line.

Every time we crossed into Kansas, the bone-jarring stopped.

South KC is OK and houses are cheap

Who are your target consumers? The metropolitan area has a wide variety, from urban to hoity-toity.

And if you don't like the weather here, just wait 15 minutes.

Not as many younger people as you'd expect. A lot of middle aged office workers trying to reconnect to their "hippy" roots. A lot of alternative religion and new age types. Very liberal. People into Yoga. People into Asia.

We might have to go more conservative, you think?

You just might want to pick a location in the Westport or Brookside areas, rather than anything on the KS side.

Your shop would probably work on the MO side in a funky neighborhood like Westport or lower Midtown.
It is a lot further to the mountains from there, thanks to an interloper called Kansas.

Westport would be a good place for a shop like yours, you might want to even consider Lawrence, KS (roughly 30-45 minutes from the KC Metro area) you'd find a good market for your stuff there. You won't have to go too conservative because, contrary to the RW propaganda, there are open-minded/liberal people all over the country even in places like Johnson County Kansas (the yuppie suburbs of KC).

KC is one of those places that is better than people assume. Sure there's lots of boring suburban conformity (but you'll find that everyhwere) but there are lots of good resturants from BBQ to ethnic to Expensive French, art galleries, music etc. No mountains though, but thicker air with oxygen in it ;)

Also you'd be in an area with a good football team as opposed to The Team That Lost To The Bears At Home ;)

Well, maybe next year...

I've heard a lot of good things about K.C., from people who came into the store. It's why we're so interested in it. It sounds like what Denver was like 10-15 years ago.

We'll definately take a look at Westport - thanks for the info!

We prepared for Chandler, not Stewart!

Hawkeye-X

Kansas City is nicer than Denver as a city. What makes Denver different are the mountains, but they're not in Denver are they?

Lawrence Kansas is a hotbed of radicalism, similar size to Boulder but not nearly as homogenized. (all the Mexican dishwashers in Boulder live in Longmont; same type of thing happens in Vail)

I've lived in Boulder, in Lawrence and in Manhattan, Kansas so I can compare the three college towns. I never thought I would miss rednecks until I moved to Boulder from Lawrence.

The whole strip from Manhattan Kansas to Columbia Missouri along I-70 is very nice geographically and politically with the exception of Topeka. Although Kansas is a stronghold republican state, it has 5 House of Rep districts. The one that contains Lawrence, Manhattan and Kansas City often votes Democratic.

There are many ways that that area is actually nicer than Colorado.
They may be a little behind the times (I haven't been there for 10 years so maybe not as much as before), but this is actually a good thing in some ways.

If you've lived in Kansas or Missouri you begin to understand how a certain type of conservative actually can be quite liberal. Witness that the populist movement came out of Kansas.

and came to despise the place. We've lived in Denver almost 12 years now, and I'm really starting to feel the same way about Denver. This place has changed so much - it seems like the neocons that have taken over our state government are trying to turn this place into Southern California.

I understand what you're saying about midwestern conservatism - Colorado used to be that way. When I look at the difference between former Republican Senator Hank Brown and current Fascist Senator Wayne Allard I just want to .... leave.

We're going to visit next week - and we'll try to take a look at Lawrence also. Property seems to be more expensive up there, and that's one of the big draws for K.C. It's affordable, which Denver isn't, anymore.

the latest scandal that's brewing against Owens will ensure that Colorado remains a progressive state.

Hawkeye-X

Arghhh.... How long does the rest of Colorado have to wait for the news? It won't be news anymore.

I mentioned this to my daughter yesterday, and then I thought maybe it's a daughter of someone he knows. Gross! This could get to be like a soap opera. I do feel badly for Frances, she does seem like a really nice woman.