Local Business

The little round balls may seem a bit outdated compared to some current games, but there’s a community of collectors, artists and kids keeping marble culture alive. In this store and studio just outside Kansas City, visitors can watch marbles being made.

President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has many recent immigrants terrified, hunkering down and holding onto their money. That new fear and frugality is crushing small, mom-and-pop businesses in some immigrant-heavy business corridors, like Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, just as new tariffs are raising the prices of many products that recent immigrants buy.

Next year, transgender teens in Kansas will no longer be able to access puberty blockers and hormone treatments for gender-affirming care. One family in Wichita is worried about navigating the changes. Plus, aircraft manufacturing is a big part of the Kansas economy, but new tariffs by the Trump administration have some companies scrambling.

Hotel rooms, buses, and liquor laws are just a few of the problems that Kansas City will need to figure out in the next year, before the first World Cup games kick off at Arrowhead Stadium next June.

Kansas City Council set the money aside to encourage small businesses, artists, and makers to move into the city's highly visible, but vacant, storefronts before the 2026 World Cup. “When visitors from all over the world visit next year, we need to be open for business,” one member said.

Small business owners want Kansas Citians to know they don't want to raise prices, but President Donald Trump's turbulent tariff policy has put them in a tough spot. Businesses say the situation is "unsettling."

Businesses along Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, are taking a hit as customers stay home and cut back on spending. "I don’t know what will happen,” one business owner said. "It's scary."

China is the source of 80% of toys purchased in the U.S. Two business owners in Kansas have been forced by the president's barrage of trade barriers to buy product early and in bulk, and deal with supply-chain issues.

Twelve Kansas City restaurants, breweries and other businesses were chosen this week for grants to expand patio space — including adding furniture and lighting, painting murals and more.

Buying a new trumpet or trombone could get a lot more expensive, as Kansas City music store owners are getting hit hard by President Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs. Plus: A prominent Kansas abortion clinic has a new leader with plans to expand access.

Since 1951, one locally-owned fast food chain has been a cult favorite for generations of Kansas City residents. How In-A-Tub, famous for its deep-fried tacos coated in a bright orange powdered cheese, came to be.

Whether you're really into rocks or just quartz-curious, Kansas City has a source for the minerals, crystals and fossils you seek. Here's a guide to rock shops and metaphysical markets in the area, and the lowdown on uncovering other rockhounds in the metro.