Kansas City's premier shopping district (and the country's first suburban shopping center) is Country Club Plaza, centered around 47th Street and Ward Parkway (tel. 816/753-0100; www.countryclubplaza.com). Built in 1922 to resemble a Spanish town, it's a tree-lined, 15-square-block area with more than 150 shops, restaurants, and nightspots. Crown Center, 2450 Grand Ave. (tel. 816/274-8444; www.crowncenter.com), is an 85-acre business and residential complex owned by the world's largest greeting-card company, Hallmark. It contains specialty shops, restaurants, hotels, theaters, and the free Hallmark Visitor Center (closed Sun-Mon), which chronicles 98 years of history with displays of Keepsake Ornaments and other Hallmark products and memorabilia, and excerpts from Hallmark Hall of Fame television movies. Just northwest of Crown Center is the Crossroads Arts District (www.kccrossroads.org), where First Friday lures an artsy crowd to restaurants, bars, and more than 60 galleries and shops the first Friday evening of every month.
City Market, at 5th and Main streets north of downtown and I-70 (tel. 816/842-1271; www.thecitymarket.org), is an outdoor market in operation since the 1850s. It's busiest on Saturday, when 150 vendors offer everything from vegetables and flowers to live chickens and T-shirts, but there are also permanent indoor specialty shops, international groceries, and restaurants occupying an Art Deco building. Just west of Kansas City, at the intersection of interstates 70 and 435, is Village West, a new leisure destination with hotels, restaurants, and shops, including the Kansas Speedway; Great Wolf Lodge; Cabela's (Kansas's top shopping attraction for its eye-popping wildlife displays and massive showrooms of outdoor equipment); Nebraska Furniture Mart; and the Legends (tel. 913/788-3700), an outdoor shopping and dining center.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
