Kansas City Kitty Q & A: It is Meow-nificent
Anna Jackman, who is about to celebrate her one year anniversary working as an employee for Kansas City Kitty, talks about everything from where the store received its name to her customer service experience and everything in between. Jackman allowed the interview to take place in her most comfortable atmosphere, in the back of the store where one can overlook all the customers, merchandise, and be next to the dressing rooms.
Q- What made you want to work at Kansas City Kitty and how long have you been working here?
Jackman- I really enjoy the environment here. I’ve gone shopping here before and when I got an interview here with the girls that own the store I got to meet them and they are just the most wonderful people in the world. I’ve been working here since last May.
Q- How did Trista Price and Christie Wolf Guthrie come up with the name of their store?
Jackman- So it’s actually based on a vintage cartoon character. She was in one episode of a Porky Pig cartoon in the 40's and you can actually find the episode on YouTube. They love the era of the 40's and thought it was a very interesting time period and there is also a bomber called Kansas City Kitty that was in World War Two.
Q- Since Trista and Christie love the 40's, did they base the design of the store off of that time period?
Jackman- Yeah partially, they like a lot of vintage, fun, unique pieces so they are always collecting things.
Q- How often do the owners, Trista and Christie come into the store?
Jackman- They are in here most days during the week. They’re around all the time they’re super great and really involved in the store and really care about everybody.
Q- How long has Kansas City Kitty been open for?
Jackman- They have been open for 13 years and this is the only location.
Q-Do you think Christie and Trista would ever franchise?
Jackman- You know I’m not sure, but I think they just like having the local really intimate setting where you get to know everybody. There are customers that have been coming in for 13 years and they have met them through all these different life stages and it’s really fun and great.
Q- How does Kansas City Kitty get a lot of their products? Do they reach out to manufacturers or do manufacturers approach them?
Jackman- The products they just work with some different vendors and have some different people they work with that have fun things. A lot of our jewelry and smaller things are locally made. It’s a lot of people they know that are making the jewelry. Just a few other local people from around town and in Colorado, we got one girl from Ohio that makes fun things. Some people come in and ask to sell their stuff here and some people Christie and Trista have met and found that they were super creative and can make some really fun things. Both of them actually make things for the store, Christie makes all of our Jet jewelry and Trista makes all of our candles.
Q- From the various days throughout the week that you work. What would you say is your most profitable and least profitable days? Do you tend to notice that certain days and the time of the day affect sales?
Jackman- You know that just kind of also varies and also depends on the time of the year. There are more people in Old Town on weekends, but Christie and Trista don’t want us to talk about those kinds of things.
Q- Do the customers that come shopping here tend to be friendly?
Jackman- Everybody is so great we have the best customers. So many of them are just so much fun and it’s great getting to talk to everybody.
Q- When you have a day off do you have a go to area of the store? Anything else you would like to add?
Jackman- We are constantly moving things around, so it is always in a different spot. The store is constantly changing, we are getting new things in two or three times a week and it’s just that constant turnover and change it is fun. Mostly I would just say that a really big important part of the success of a store is the owners and what they want. Christi and Trista put a lot of focus on finding people that get along really well to man the store and do all of this. They almost want extensions of themselves, people who are gonna love and help their customers and friends as much as they do. Customers isn’t even the right word, we love all our people.
