Kansas City…Close to Home, with Great Shopping!
Kansas City is only a few hours away from St. Louis, so if you are looking to vacation close to home, or just for a quick weekend getaway, K.C. is a great choice! Recently, I had the pleasure of spending two great weekends in Kansas City. Dining, shopping, and great hotels along with museums and cultural events give everyone in the family what they want.
I’m going to concentrate on shopping in this blog, because most women want to know what shops are worthy of their attention when on a trip! Some hotels, restaurants and entertainment are included as secondary in importance to shopping!
Country Club Plaza
With many hotels, restaurants, and high end shops, it may appear at first glance to be too expensive for the normal girl. Not so! We stayed for only $99 per night at the Sheraton Suites Country Club Plaza, and that included free parking. The rooms were each a small suite, and even had microwaves. Across the street from the Sheraton I saw a Hampton Inn that also was reasonably priced and nice, with a very good central location. The availability for splurging is there, but if you want to save more to spend in the shops, check out those two hotels. Staying in the Country Club Plaza district enables you to walk to many awesome venues.
High end shops reside in this Plaza, but you can find great deals! I was quite excited to spot a Betsey Johnson store, and even happier when I snagged my daughter a Homecoming dress for next year for $130, marked down from its almost $500 original price.
We also picked up two great purses for under $100 total, 40% off! The North Face also has a presence…not many deals to be found there, but if you want to pick out a nice $90 light jacket, there are plenty to choose from! There is a huge Barnes and Noble with several levels, and when I was there I noticed they were giving 25% off for teachers. Some other great shops:
- Lucky Brand Jeans
- Zoom Toy Store
- Burberry (I saw an adorably tiny baby swimsuit with Burberry’s signature plaid)
- Tiffany & Co. (no deals to be found here, but who doesn’t love Tiffany?)
- Bebe
- Halls (department store)
- J. Crew
- BCBG Maxazria
- Talbots
- Tommy Bahamas
While you shop, you will certainly need culinary replenishing, and there are so many restaurants to choose from! Buca di Beppo, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and The Melting Pot are just a few of a complex with great dining.
Crown Center
With over sixty places to shop and dine, you could easily spend a day or two in this complex. There is a Hallmark Crown Center and a Crayola store, and the latter even has a “colorful” café adjacent. You can also find entertainment at Crown Plaza. Currently, there is a fairytale village on display, where little ones can climb through a magical world and their devoted parents can take pictures. We also saw a huge line of little ones holding Snow White and dwarf dolls…why? Well, the Princess herself was receiving, available for a hug and pictures. I have an aversion to lines and my little one has seen Snow White enough, so we just watched from afar, but it sure is cheaper than going to Disney World if you have a little Princess lover!
We shopped and shopped here. Function Junction, the kitchen store, has a great stock of sea salts. At Toy Time, we found a Hello Kitty plush dolls with optional wedding dress, and a lot of solid wooden learning toys. The Halls department store here is a mecca of lovely items; expensive, but lovely. If you are in the market for some Juicy brand children’s clothes, Halls is your place. There is a Russian & European Giftware shop that we didn’t actually enter for fear of breaking something, but I spotted lovely Faberge eggs. Some other stores to note:
- Best of Kansas City (need Wizard of Oz merchandise?)
- Club 223: perfect for tweens
- Catos Cat Boutique and Playful Paws…two stores to cover your pet design needs
- Holiday Magic: it is Christmas every day in K.C.! They also have other holiday merchandise.
- Kangaroo Crossing: Australian inspired items
- Gifted Hands Gift Shop: Here you can find handmade crafts and art created and sold to benefit local Kansas City teens in need. This is a worthy shop with particularly beautiful art, including hand-painted wine glasses.
To eat at Crown Center will cause you some trouble, because it will be VERY difficult to choose! We chose the Crayola Café, because we had a five year old with us, but several more caught my eye:
- Kabuki: Japanese restaurant and sushi bar
- Benton’s Steak and Chop House
- d’Bronx: New York deli
- A Streetcar Named Desire: actually in a streetcar
- Three Little Pigs BBQ
There are two great hotels in this complex, the Hyatt Regency Crown Center and The Westin Crown Center. Both are very nice, with price tags to go with their luxury and location. For entertainment, there is the American Heartland Theatre, with live plays; Off Center Theatre with live performances; and Screenland at Crown Center featuring classics, documentaries, and independent films.
Erin C. Delligatti
Travel Specialist and
Owner of Never Grow Up Travel
thanks for the ideas , i’d love to stick to your weblog as generally as i can.have a great day~~