KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Since Kansas City was founded in 1838, the town has been a hub of merchants, innovators and kind neighbors. Almost two centuries later, the same sentiments ring true for the city on the border of Missouri and Kansas. To locals, it’s no surprise. But to the rest of the world, the town is gaining notoriety. So much so that hometown pride merchandise is flying off the shelves and changing the lives of small business owners.
"We’ve been a hidden gem city," says Jessica Palm, the vice president of the Area Development Council for Kansas City. "But we’re entering our golden era."
At the Parisi Coffee shop nestled inside Union Station, Palm explains the plan to make the metropolis a global destination. And to the city's credit, it's well on its way. For starters, a pristine airport terminal opened in February 2023. Then there's the KC Current stadium, the first women's professional sports venue in the world. Factor in a billion-dollar deal for a Google facility. Add a $4 billion plant for Panasonic. And then there’s the blossoming relationship between global superstar Taylor Swift and Chiefs player Travis Kelce.
"This week you’ll experience what we call 'Kansas City kindness,'" Palm says. Her office lined up interviews with small businesses affected by the Swift-Kelce relationship. She foreshadows residents' Midwestern charm. "People here would give you the shirts off their back."
And she’s right. I've experienced it twice. Once last year at the Chiefs-Eagles matchup, where drizzling rain mixed with poor jacket selection sent me into a shivering frenzy. The fan next to me took off one of his coats and handed it to me, saying, "I’m not going to let you freeze."
I’ll get to the second time below.
Ever since Swift appeared at her first Chiefs game on Sept. 24, 2023, locally owned clothing shops have sprung into action to create merchandise not just for the football fan, but the Swift fan.
More:Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship timeline: How NFL games shaped superstar couple
"I was at the game, and the excitement was unreal," says Elle Steadman, the owner of Pink Dinosaur. "My customers and myself were like, 'There's got to be Taylor-inspired things.'"
The University of Missouri fashion major and mom of three boys and one girl put her creative mind to work designing trucker caps that read "Red Era," friendship beaded heart sunglasses and cute red sweatshirts that say "Who’s Afraid of Little Old KC Football (You Should Be)."
"Our online presence has grown 170%," Steadman, 41, says. "We were stuck at 26,000 followers on Instagram for a long, long time, but after (Swift) came to a game we grew to 41,000."
Although Swift hasn’t donned any Pink Dinosaur apparel, her has made purchases from other local favorites.
"She changed our lives," Westside Storey owner Chris Harrington, 39, says.
In October 2023, Harrington and his girlfriend, Kathryn Cacho, shipped a box of five vintage sweatshirts to a location associated with Swift's team. Cacho had the foresight to sneak in a beanie she knitted — white with a No. 87. Swift wore several of the sweatshirts and the one-of-a-kind beanie to a handful of games last season. And when word got out Westside Storey was responsible, the vintage store did 10 times the sales it’s used to in the following days. Cacho’s beanie sold out in minutes. She had to cap the online requests at 300.
"We just finished making the preorders," Cacho says almost one year later. "It was just me, my sister and a small team. We’re still taking orders, but 20 beanie intervals."
And it seems Swift isn’t done wearing their clothes after donning a T-shirt dress to the Bengals-Chiefs face-off.
Although Harrington and Cacho can't confirm the singer wore their exact item, the same dress was on their rack the week before the game.
"So the honeymoon period of last year that I thought would last a week or a month has turned into kind of an identity of our store," Harrington says. "(Swift) has allowed us to dream bigger. We’re looking at other locations. We’re looking to expand our office space and inventory space."
Other local clothing stores seeing a boom include Fetch, a hipster spot; We Got Your Back Apparel, a specialty shop in Overland Park; and Made in KC, a 10-store franchise.
Then there's EB and Co., a boutique that sold the No. 87 gold jersey ring Swift wore to the AFC championship.
"It’s been kind of bananas," says owner Emily Bordner. "I’ve been in business for about 12 years and when Taylor wore our ring, everyone started tagging us."
The shop sold the 200 rings in stock immediately, so Bordner opened a preorder option that tallied up 5,000 additional requests. For five months, the store rushed to ship rings and catch up to the demand.
"I was able to buy my dream home this year because of (Swift) and Donna (Kelce)," Bordner says. "It’s very exciting, but as a business owner, for this season, I thought, 'How do you prepare for Year 2?' We’re definitely learning as we go."
Bordner's sales are up 83% for the year. EB and Co. has increased wholesale clients by 3,000%.
Argentinian-inspired restaurant Piropos has become engrained in the TnT love story. The 23-year-old brick and mortar named after Argentinian phrase, "If beauty were a sin, you’d never been forgiven," was one of the couple's first date spots.
"Kelce has been here many times, especially when he came with his family after winning the Super Bowl (in 2022)," owner Cristina Worden says. "It was a normal night. It wasn’t a big deal."
The night Kelce and Swift showed up, Worden told the staff to not take photos and not text their friends.
"One night around 8:30 p.m. we received a call from our manager who said, 'Taylor and Kelce are here,'" Worden says. "I told them, 'OK guys, don’t get excited. Treat them with respect. Give them space.'"
One of the unspoken rules of Kansas City is being respectful of celebrities when they are out and about.
When Kelce showed up at the Trader Joe's by his Leawood, Kansas, mansion, the store grew quiet as the tight end checked out. Everyone smiled and gazed on, but no one approached him. Kansas City is small enough for a text message to travel to every neighborhood, but (for the most part) courteous enough for the locals leave stars alone.
"We wanted to keep this confidential," says Sheila MacDonald, the marketing consultant for Piropos. "We wanted them to feel safe and not worry about a bunch of paparazzi coming around to bother them."
Hidden in the banquet room, the couple ordered empanadas, mahi mahi and a special bottle of wine, Château Lamothe.
"We sell more glasses of that wine than anything else," MacDonald says. The banquet room has since hosted a Swiftie bride who changed in the bathroom and surprised guests with a pop-up wedding and a blogger who wrote about what TnT would have experienced.
You can't spell donuts without "TS" and a local donut spot — where Kelce has been a consistent customer — sells a special 30-pack for sweet-toothed Swift fans.
"Before the Eras Tour came to Kansas City last year, we launched a 30-pack of mini donuts that blew every other campaign we’ve ever done out of the water in terms of preorders," says Abby Meyer, the marketing director of Donutology. "We played off the whole Taylor-gating experience because most people aren’t going to eat 30 mini donuts in one sitting."
The packs included a variety of donuts cleverly named after Swift lyrics: "Caramel Is a Cat," "Guilty as Cinnamon," "Lavender Glaze" and "Loving Him Was Red Velvet."
"We sold an additional 20,000 donuts on top of what we would normally sell," says Donutology owner Andrew Cameron, 36, who is stacked again with orders for the fall football season. "This year we have a brand-new Taylor Swift pack."
McLain's Bakery, an almost 80-year establishment, is opening a sixth location on Swift Street in North Kansas.
"And our fifth location is on Travis Street," says owner Mollie Lothman. "We didn't plan this. We signed those leases in the spring of 2023."
The shop sells custom "Lover" cakes and hand heart confections. One of the best sellers is a frosted cake with two hands: one with Swift's red nail polish and the other in Kelce's Chiefs glove.
"If you look at the numbers from the 2022-2023 football season to the numbers for the 2023-2024 football season, our cakery team had a 40% increase in sales," Lothman, 38, says. "I give Taylor a lot of the credit."
"There’s not a day I walk through our cake department without seeing a Taylor Swift thing being decorated," says Cassidy Garr, the director of guest experience.
Between meetings at City Hall, Mayor Quinton Lucas squeezes in 15 minutes to talk about the Swift effect on his town.
"She’s the most unique world figure I've ever seen that people just want to be around," Lucas says. "I've met other world leaders and entertainers, but people want to be around her and there’s this joy when they're around her."
Lucas has rubbed elbows with the superstar a few times since she's become familiar with his city, and although he can't speculate on whether she'll move to the Midwestern town full-time, he does express gratitude for Kelce bringing Swift to K.C.
"I’m proud that he’s making her part of the community," Lucas says. "They stop at places we stop at. They're driving around like normal people. He bought a cool house because he's dating a really cool girl."
At every stop along the Eras Tour, Swift has donated "significant amounts" to local food banks. Harvesters, a community food network that serves both Kansas and Missouri, received a call from Swift's team ahead of her concerts in July 2023.
"It goes towards a lot," says Jillian Williams, director of philanthropy for Harvesters. "We have a large organization that covers a lot of counties. We have semis on the road delivering food to rural counties. … (Swift) also shined a light on us and brought awareness and anytime you talk about us, that elevates donations."
I went to KCTV5 on my last day in town to speak with anchors Kerrigan Arnold and Shane Konicki. Last time, I forgot a winter jacket. This trip, it was dress socks.
Jessica Palm with the Area Development Council disappeared from the green room after I told her and minutes later a pair of space-themed socks appeared. The segment wrapped, and I started walking out to the car when Palm chased me down, "Bryan, we need the socks. They're one of the main anchors'."
It's easy to see why one of the city’s slogans is "Sharing the K.C. Love" with how the community lifts each member up and will quite literally lend you their clothing. As the town embraces Swift’s impact and yearlong relationship with Kelce, the hope among locals is for her to eventually call Kansas City her home.
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