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This is the first in a series of three articles exploring the local company, Made In KC. There are three distinct founders and three distinct parts of the business, and they are all integral to Kansas City’s retail scene. We, as the 126-year-old chronicle of Our Town, feel it is important to get to know another iconic company devoted to improving the landscape of our community. 

Made In KC, the ubiquitous establishment selling everything from earrings to books to sweatshirts, barbecue sauce, and popcorn, is celebrating 10 years of local retail domination in Our Town! Started in May of 2015 by three friends, Keith Bradley, Tyler Enders, and Thomas McIntyre, the company was designed with the original mission of providing local artists and makers with a platform to reach customers in Overland Park through its Prairiefire location. 

By the numbers: With steady growth, a commitment to local vendors and customers, 10 years later there are eight neighborhood stores, three marketplace locations, and four coffee shops/bars. The business model that focuses on all locally produced products, jobs created locally, and local retail operations, results in – on average – 90 cents of every dollar generated being funneled into our local economy through wages, profits, donations, purchases, and expenses. 

How the founding threesome got to these numbers is part of the story. For years, they have conducted research into the how, why, and wherefore of local retail businesses. The Civic Economics research company with offices in Tulsa and Chicago informed their conclusions. With well over a dozen cities contributing information, on average, it was found that national retail chains  recirculate 13.6 percent of their revenue locally; independent retailers recirculate 47.7 percent locally; and national restaurants recirculate 30.4 percent locally; and independent restaurateurs average 64.9 percent. Clearly, Made In KC is doing something correctly by putting 90 percent back into the economy, and more importantly, they are valued as neighbors in our local communities. 

The “why” of Made In KC’s origins is the real impetus to their success. Keith, Tyler, and Thomas all had strong convictions about artisans being able to have a fair and level playing field. They wanted to respect the work of local artisans and provide a variety of locations for sales. And, paramount to artists – the company buys the artwork outright. The typical method for sales historically is for artists to sell on a consignment basis – where they might not get paid for weeks or months after a sale. Made in KC purchases their goods in a wholesale format, thus paying the artist nearly immediately, and most artists are asked to restock on a regular basis, which provides a more predictable income stream. 

The “who” of the company is a “check your ego at the door” combination of three friends who each have very different skill sets. Tyler and Thomas were friends at Shawnee Mission East High School, and Thomas and Keith both attended Truman State University (and they are related now by marriage). After launching their own separate careers, they reunited as a threesome of eager entrepreneurs, and with their own ideas and their own money, they initiated a retail pop-up store. Thomas brought the accounting background, Tyler is known as the visionary one, and Keith is the integrator – he makes all of it come together in a real-life format. They did not have any retail experience, and they are grateful for that. They felt they could relate to the artisans better, and put their needs first before putting the pieces of leases and payrolls and purchase orders into place. 

At this point in the evolution of Made In KC, the responsibilities have sorted themselves out in the following way (with definite overlap): Keith oversees all of the retail installations. This includes the three Marketplace formats. Those are larger retail footprints that also include cafes and bars, and they also rent out space to vendors for a larger exposure, while the regular local merchandise is also available. There are eight Neighborhood locations, and those are smaller retail locations without rented space and without cafes. And, there are three locations that are strictly cafes/bars. 

Tyler oversees their recent partnership purchase (part of a group) of Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kansas. He is also fulfilling his visionary duties of planning for the future for the company, which is outlining the opening of a location in Power & Light in time for the FIFA influx this summer. 

Thomas is busy running Sandlot Goods. Based on Southwest Boulevard, it locally produces textile items like hats, wallets, t-shirts, and sweatshirts. We will feature two more articles that will follow Tyler and Thomas and their separate, yet intertwined, worlds.

For Keith’s part in managing the retail functions, his vision includes the idea that scale is important to everyone. Being able to offer artists and makers the opportunity to sell to Made In KC in order to stock 11 locations (soon to be 12), establishes a much more consistent outlet for makers, and in turn, provides a much more predictable and profitable revenue stream. Selling one bar of soap at a time at craft fairs does not compare to a purchase order sale of 30 boxes of soap, which will be sorted and distributed in Made In KC’s own warehouse, and delivered to each individual store. Keith also understands that even though we like to think of Kansas City as a “big” small town, we are actually pretty siloed in our traffic patterns. People don’t like to drive far to buy a gift, but they do like to support local businesses and artists. So, having more locations in strategic parts of town is key to everyone’s success. 

According to Keith, “Small businesses make a community unique and special. They make the place where we live and work personal. We are so impressed with the way the community here supports small businesses, and we are proud to be a part of that landscape.” 

The business has grown from 13 to more than 300 artists in 10 years. And while they have local retail in Kansas City figured out, they have no real intentions of franchising or expanding into multiple cities. There have been small experiments in other locations just to test it out. But, the magic remains here. There is a special midwestern mindset that values the creative ones among us, and people are eager to support locally sourced items whenever possible. Made In KC has made that marriage possible. When a city supports small businesses, large sports franchises, the arts, education, and each other, we all flourish. Sweatshirts and coffee are the perfect way to keep us all connected. 

Note: For more information and a listing of all locations and product types, visit madeinkc.co. Included there is also information about Made In KC’s VIP program and corporate orders. 

Featured in the March 7, 2026 issue of The Independent
By: Anne Potter Russ