Taylor Swift Sparks Economic Boom in Kansas City, Small Businesses Express Gratitude

KANSAS CITY— Since 1838, Kansas City has been a city of merchants, entrepreneurs, and good neighbors. Ditto the views for the border city of Missouri and Kansas more than two centuries later. Locals expect it. Yet the town is gaining its popularity around the globe. Local pride items are selling fast and changing small business owners’ lives.

“We’ve been a hidden gem city,” says Kansas City Area Development Council vice president Jessica Palm. “But we’re entering our golden era.”

Palm talks about turning the city into a world destination at Union Station’s Parisi Coffee shop. The city has done well. Start with a clean airport terminal that opened in February 2023. KC Current is the first women’s professional sports stadium in the world. Think of a billion-dollar Google facility deal. This is also because of familiar names, including Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

They were told, “This week you will see what we like to call ‘Kansas City kindness,'” he said. It was their intention to visit and have conversations with a few of the smaller companies. Swift-Kelce intentionally caused pain in order to convey their message. Whenever she reflected on how exciting it must have been for them coming to the Midwest for the first time, she would think of it. “People here would give you the shirts off their back.”

This week you’ll get to fully immerse yourself in what we affectionately call “Kansas City niceness.” You will have this opportunity to take advantage of.

Then he takes a few of those topics and expands on them with more specific description.

It was in her office where she arrived at the idea that she should speak to some of the smaller business that had been affected by Swift-Kelce. And she was able to get herself ready for their folksy demeanor, which was so Midwestern in such a powerful way, “Folks here would give you the shirts off their backs.”.

I’m glad you cited the following quote to my essay.

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K.C. is always on spot, regardless of the circumstances.

Since Swift attended her first game with the Chiefs on September 24, 2023, local clothing stores had been producing content that appealed to members of the Swiftie fanbase as well as football fans.

“I was at the game and the excitement was just unreal,” recalls Pink Dinosaur owner Elle Steadman. “My customers and myself were like, ‘There’s got to be Taylor-inspired things.'”

Mother of three boys and one girl, the University of Missouri fashion major designed trucker caps that read “Red Era,” friendship beaded heart sunglasses, and charming red sweatshirts that say “Who’s Afraid of Little Old KC Football (You Should Be).”

“Our online presence has grown 170%, says 41-year-old Steadman. “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.”

Swift hasn’t worn Pink Dinosaur, though she has bought other local brands.

“She changed our lives,” says 39-year-old Westside Storey owner Chris Harrington.

Harrington and his girlfriend, Kathryn Cacho, sent five vintage sweatshirts to Swift’s team in October 2023. Cacho stashed a white No. 87 beanie she crocheted. Swift wore different sweatshirts and the specialty beanie to a few games last season. Once Westside Storey was fingered, the vintage shop sold tenfold more in the next days. The Cacho beanie sold out in minutes. She capped online orders at 300.

“We just finished the pre-orders,” Cacho shares over a year later. “I was by myself with my sister and just a few people. Orders are still taken at intervals of 20 beanie orders.

Swift tweeted about wearing a dress in all the right places for the Bengals-Chiefs game, it seems she’s still rocking them T-shirt dresses.

Harrington and Cacho have no confirmation that the singer wore their dress but it was on their rack the week of 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,” he says. Swift lets us dream larger. Other venues are being considered. We want more office and inventory space.”

Other local apparel stores booming include trendy Fetch, Overland Park’s We Got Your Back Apparel, and Made in KC, a 10-store chain.

The No. 87 gold jersey ring Swift wore to the AFC championship was sold at EB and Co.

“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.”

Yet before that, Bordner had opened up a pre-order, which she received 5,000 orders after the 200 rings sold very quickly. The business accelerated its shipping of rings for five months to catch up on the demand.

“I was able to buy my dream home this year because of (Swift) and Donna (Kelce),” Bordner adds. “This season is exciting, but as a business owner, I wondered, ‘How do you prepare for Year 2?’ We’re learning by doing.”

Bordner’s yearly sales jumped by 83%. EB and Co. picked up 3,000 times as many wholesalers as before.

Date nights ‘once every few lifetimes’

Piropos, an Argentinian restaurant, is part of the TnT love tale. Argentinian expression “If beauty were a sin, you’d never been forgiven,” named the 23-year-old brick and mortar, was one of the couple’s first dates.

“Kelce has been here many times, especially when he came with his family after winning the Super Bowl (in 2022),” Cristina Worden explains. “A typical night. No big deal.”

Worden told staff not to snap photos or text friends when Kelce and Swift came in one night.

” One night around 8:30 p.m. we received a call from our manager who said, ‘Taylor and Kelce are here,'” he says. I said, “OK folks, don’t get excited. Please respect them. Give them room.”

Kansas City has an unwritten code of respecting celebrities in public.

As Kelce shopped his way out of the Trader Joe’s near his Leawood, Kansas estate, the store grew silent. Everyone smiled and gazed, but nobody came over to him. Even though they are small enough for a text message to get to every corner, Kansas City residents are respectful enough to leave stars alone.

“We wanted to keep this confidential,” says Sheila MacDonald, marketing consultant for Piropos. “We wanted them to feel safe and not worry about a bunch of paparazzi coming around to bother them.”

Tucked away in the banquet area, the couple ordered empanadas, mahi mahi and Château Lamothe wine.

“We sell more glasses of that wine than anything else,” MacDonald says. A Swiftie bride changed in the restroom and shocked attendees with a pop-up wedding, while a blogger blogged about TnT’s experience in the dining area.

Bakers will bake

You can’t spell donuts without “TS” and Kelce’s favorite donut shop sells a 30-pack for 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 done out of the water in preorders,” says Donutology marketing director Abby Meyer. “We played off the whole Taylor-gating experience because most people aren’t going to eat 30 mini donuts in one sitting.”

Boxes were filled up in donuts with the Swift-tat: caramel and a cat on the side, guilt as cinnamon, lavender glaze, and loving him is in red velvet.

We sold an extra 20,000 donuts beyond what we would sell regularly,” says 36-year-old owner of Donutology Andrew Cameron.
Now we are cracking on with fall football orders. Again this year, we have a brand-new Taylor Swift pack.”

McLain’s Bakery building their sixth on Swift Street in North Kansas.
“Yes, our fifth location is on Travis Street,” owner Mollie Lothman says. They never had a vision like this. These leases were signed in spring 2023.”.

“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. “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 guest experience director Cassidy Garr.

Community members

Mayor Quinton Lucas uses half an hour of discussion with Swift between City Hall meetings.

“She’s the most unusual world figure I have ever seen that people just want to be around,” he 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 seen Swift several times since she’s gotten to know his city. He can’t say if she’ll move there permanently, but he thanks Kelce for bringing her to K.C.

“I’m proud that he’s making her part of the community,” he says. “They stop where we do. They’re driving normally. He got a cool house because he’s dating a cool girl.”

At every Eras Tour stop, Swift has donated “significant amounts” to local food banks. Before her July 2023 concerts, Harvesters, a Kansas-Missouri community food network, received a call from Swift’s crew.

“It goes towards a lot,” says Harvesters philanthropic director Jillian Williams. “Our vast organization serves many counties. We deliver food to rural counties by truck. … Swift also raised awareness and money whenever you mention us.”

Sharing KC love

It’s my last day in town and I got to visit with KCTV5 anchors Kerrigan Arnold and Shane Konicki. Last time, I left one of my winter jackets behind. This time, the dress socks.

After telling Jessica Palm of the Area Development Council, she walked out of the green room and before long, space-themed socks came floating into the room. Palm caught me just as I was leaving the part of the taping; “Bryan, we need the socks. One of the lead anchors.”

This is why one of the city’s slogans is “Sharing the K.C. Love”—the community boosts one other up and lends you their clothes. Locals expect Swift will move to Kansas City after her yearlong engagement with Kelce and her impact on the town.

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Conclusion

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour broke records and breathed new life into Kansas City’s economy. For this, small businesses around town are very thankful that Swift’s sold-out shows pumped so much money into those registers. Hotel, restaurant, and retail sales bounced back as Swift lovers flooded the venues.

Some proprietors of local businesses have testified that Swift “changed their lives” due to increased foot traffic and sales. This shows how strong and influential she is beyond music, as the fact that her popularity is good to the locations she travels to gives significance and power to her name.

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