KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Swifties have a reputation for being fiercely loyal. And this weekend, they committed to supporting Kansas City-area businesses.
“It’s one of our record-breaking sales weekends that we've had so far,” said Samantha Hutsell, sales associate at Shop Local KC.
As KC was in its "The Eras Tour" era, Shop Local KC said the store was in its "busy era" thanks to fans of Taylor Swift who stopped in.
“A lot of vendors coming in and out of the shop multiple times a day, restocking items ... had special things made specifically for the Swifties,” Hutsell said.
When Shop Local KC opened in April in Crown Center, the business did not anticipate one of its best weekends to fall in July.
“[This weekend was] definitely a little over triple the amount that we normally do,” Hutsell said. “Events such as the NFL Draft, Boulevardia, those are things that we anticipated that kind of the same outcome. However, it was a lot of traffic but we were down in sales, so it was pretty surprising that this was the complete opposite of that."
Fans like Amanda Outly, who traveled from Florida for the concert, were on a mission to find unique Swiftie souvenirs to remember their time in KC.
“Just because it’s good to support small business and the unique things that you find. I've been in so many stores, and I’ve never seen anything like this," Outly said. "This is fantastic, so you find all the cool little treasures."
As the weekend came to a close, Shop Local KC said it will forever and always appreciate the extra, unexpected love.
“You’re supporting many different small businesses, self entrepreneurs and artists, so it's important because you’re putting that money back into the community,” Hutsell said.
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