Downtown KCK grocery store, years in the making, celebrates opening

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A new grocery store opened recently in downtown Kansas City, Kansas, an area previously identified as a food desert.

The Merc Co+op, a community-owned cooperative business, opened at North 5th Street and Minnesota Avenue in late July. On Wednesday, city and economic development leaders held a ceremony at the store to celebrate the completion of the years-long project.

"What this says is Kansas City, Kansas, is a place worthy of investment," Mayor David Alvey said. "This is a sign of what's to come."

Although there are several Latino-based markets not too far away, people have complained for years about the lack of food options in this area of KCK.

Katherine Carttar, the economic development director for the Unified Government, said The Merc isn't intended to replace any of those other markets, but it's a "way that you don't have to go outside the community to get those staples."

The goal for the grocery store has always been to fill a needed gap.

"I think it's cool they made a store close to the apartments down in this neighborhood, 'cause there's a lot of stores far from the neighborhood," said Mela McClendon, who lives nearby. "So people without cars, it's good to be able to walk to a grocery store."

Bernie Harland said the prices aren't bad.

"If you just need one little thing, you don't have to go all the way to Walmart to get it. They got mostly everything here," Harland said.

The UG held public meetings to decide what the store should look like, the price point of items and how to stock the shelves.

The community wanted fresh, healthy foods at a cheap price paired with an inviting store.

"They knew the need to build nice beautiful store in the area so the community can feel better," store director Jeff Terrell said. "It's not on the other side of town, we're downtown. Downtown hasn't had anything brand new for a while, so we feel really good about being able to support that."

The UG said The Merc will attract more investors to the area.

"This store will definitely be a catalyst. You look at what happened in (Kansas City, Missouri) when Cosentino's came. There was a boom in apartments and we're already seeing a lot of interest," Carttar said. "KU is across street, but just on the other side of street where the Reardon Center is, we already have a project announced that will still be a meeting place, but also apartments and a fitness center."

The store is 14,000 square feet, which Carttar said ensures that The Merc will be able to sustain a profit and stay open.

The $7 million project was funded by a mix of private and public dollars, including $3.2 million from the Hotel Revenue Fund and $1.6 million from sales and property tax from the Downtown Grocery Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, according to the Unified Government.

The Merc Co+op will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.