KCRag Forum

I agree I love that they are coming downtown, especially if they care more than just sports stuff...kc touristy stuff has been needed downtown ive always thought....I just don't like them in such a prominent spot. I imagined a retailer like them along 13th between main and Baltimore.

Not sure what would fit what I'm thinking for that corner....something flashier.

I don't like it either, but perhaps the thought is to finally fill all spaces and go after bigger concepts as spaces open in the future. This will allow them to raise rents since they could show demand plus getting a less than optimal rent is better than nothing.

just fill it!

Rally House is a great fit. Would be nice to have something a little sexier if it's in the corner spot, but after sitting empty this long it's pretty safe to say that the interest isn't there. If sales at Rally House go well, perhaps that will lead to other retail.

I see two things in play

1. Retail companies can be very risk averse. Occupancy levels is a good proxy to future success in an area so this tells the next company looking that downtown is a great place to be.
2. Developers can be more risk averse. They don't like building more retail where there's a lot of empty spaces already.

So we can't be too picky right now on who fills spaces. A filled storefront also dramatically improves the street level experience. With the huge variety of guests conventions and other events brings, we also want to see a lot of variety in downtown.

i remember there being a truck outside P&L during the world series run that was selling royals gear. any chance that was affiliated with rally house — early scouting effort, perhaps? i am guessing it was probably just some opportunistic and questionably-licensed outfit, though.

i'd much rather have a rally house down here than an underarmour store. it would be cool if this location would dispense with all the out of town crap and just sell KC stuff: royals, chiefs, sporting, UMKC. jayhawks / tigers / wildcats are okay too, i suppose, but leave the racks of cornhuskers etc. out in the suburbs. i guess alternatively they could be opportunistic and cycle stuff in based on who is playing at the sprint center, which might be better for their margins even if it leaves me disgruntled (for no good reason, obviously).

wahoowa wrote:i remember there being a truck outside P&L during the world series run that was selling royals gear. any chance that was affiliated with rally house — early scouting effort, perhaps? i am guessing it was probably just some opportunistic and questionably-licensed outfit, though.

i'd much rather have a rally house down here than an underarmour store. it would be cool if this location would dispense with all the out of town crap and just sell KC stuff: royals, chiefs, sporting, UMKC. jayhawks / tigers / wildcats are okay too, i suppose, but leave the racks of cornhuskers etc. out in the suburbs. i guess alternatively they could be opportunistic and cycle stuff in based on who is playing at the sprint center, which might be better for their margins even if it leaves me disgruntled (for no good reason, obviously).

I assumed the MLB did that? I was luckily right next to it when the Royals won and got to impulse buy a lot of stuff really quickly.

wahoowa wrote:but leave the racks of cornhuskers etc. out in the suburbs.

Woah, woah, woah. What's wrong with my Huskers?

Also point out that Rally House/Kansas Sampler is local.

hgascoigne wrote:

wahoowa wrote:but leave the racks of cornhuskers etc. out in the suburbs.

Woah, woah, woah. What's wrong with my Huskers?

nothing that isn't also wrong with the other schools i mentioned

the rally house locations i've been to either have too much stuff packed into a small space (plaza, town center, 119/renner) or feel like a mall unto themselves (oak park) with different little zones for each somewhat tangentially relevant local-ish school. both of those setups seem silly for a tourist-laden location like P&L, to this random person on the internet at least.

That is the perfect location for a Rally House, right next to the Sprint Center on grand. That store will be packed every time there is a sports event at Sprint Center such as college basketball. Plus with 10's of thousands of young sports fans living downtown, they will have a market. I mean how many 20-30 somethings live downtown that will buy KU/Mizzou/Chiefs/Royals/etc gear there rather than having to drive to the burbs. Best retail addition to downtown since cosentinos.

Rally House opened today.

hgascoigne wrote:Rally House opened today.

Must have been busting ass trying to get open before the B12 tournament.

I was out and about today so I snapped a few pics.

I went in today....no coupon handed out.

Wish they had more KC stuff but maybe after Big 12 stuff moves out they will.

It looks like they're moving this intersection to a four-way stop. The light has been flashing red for the past few days and stop signs have been installed.

hgascoigne wrote:It looks like they're moving this intersection to a four-way stop. The light has been flashing red for the past few days and stop signs have been installed.

I hate four-way stops - people are idiots.

kcjak wrote:

hgascoigne wrote:It looks like they're moving this intersection to a four-way stop. The light has been flashing red for the past few days and stop signs have been installed.

I hate four-way stops - people are idiots.

Why do they keep pulling this crap in pedestrian-heavy areas? It makes the intersections so much more dangerous and confusing for everyone.

(Similar rant: The intersections downtown where they removed the stop signs for one direction only, but the surrounding buildings at the corners cause poor sight lines for the crossing vehicles that have to stop. 12th & McGee, 11th & McGee, 11th & Oak, for example.)

No, four-ways DO NOT make them more dangerous for peds.

Peds have 100% right of way at a stop sign. You can walk out at any time and a car must wait for you no matter what with or without a marked crosswalk.

You're complaining about bad drivers, not the intersection design.

Yeah four-way stops are generally better for pedestrians in my experience. I'm pumped to see this intersection converted. Auto traffic is relatively light through there but ped traffic is high. This is a good decision in my book.