People & Places
IKEA store opens in Merriam, Kansas
The home furnishings megastore IKEA opened its Merriam, Kansas, branch this Wednesday. Customers started lining up outside the store a full two days before the doors opened. And, they were rewarded for their patience with free giveaways, including sofas, chairs and Swedish meatballs for a year. IKEA, a Swedish company, is known for its inexpensive…
Behind Kansas City’s ridesharing fight
Increasingly popular ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft allow you to summon a taxi or car service by using a smartphone app. Instead of calling or hailing a cab, the apps track your GPS position, and the car shows up at your location. No physical money changes hands. All payments are made with credit cards,…
5 apps designed by Kansas City girls at no-boys-allowed camp
When you think about a typical summer camp, the great outdoors, swimming, campfire songs and s’mores come to mind. But, at this camp, girls sit quietly clicking away at computers in a classroom. They’re all developing their own apps for Android phones. And this camp is strictly no-boys-allowed. This is the second year that an…
From bandleader to blogger: the evolving definition of the term ‘entrepreneur’
When you hear the word “entrepreneur,” it’s easy to picture a twenty-something guy wearing wireless headphones and typing furiously on his laptop. He’s developing an app, or writing a business plan or creating a social media presence — maybe all three tasks are being tackled at once. This stereotype, however, is only one vision of…
Comic book fans, producers embrace digital versions but still preserve print issues
Jim Cavanaugh has owned Clint’s Comics in midtown Kansas City for 39 years. He has seen the stores around his Main Street storefront come and go, and said that his store is the only one that remains in the area from the 1960s. While other media businesses like book and movie rental stores have gone…