Johnson County will soon be without a one-of-a-kind business that once blended trendy women’s fashion with fresh, local produce….and even a few pairs of Crocs, here and there.
Mission Fresh Fashion will close for good May 26
Long-time shoppers and other local well-wishers are already busy paying respects (and making final purchases) at Mission Fresh Fashion, 6102 Johnson Drive, following owners Ray and Becky Hanf’s recent announcement that the popular shop will close at the end of the month.
The couple posted a sign outside the store calling it a “retirement sale” and say the decision is very much final.
Every fixture inside the building is priced to move.
“We really mean it: everything is for sale,” Ray Hanf said. “The microwave, the fridge, the speakers. You name it. It’s time…it’s just time for us to do this. I’m about to file for Medicare, and the (offers) from realtors we were getting [were] just too hard to pass up.”
‘The cantaloupe go bad, the clothing doesn’t’
The couple started the eclectic business 25 years ago on Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza, offering women’s clothing and fresh, local produce under one roof.
Ray already had a background in the produce business, first as a driver, and then an operations manager, before establishing a relationship with Fresh Produce Sportswear.
Two years after their opening on the Plaza, the couple moved the business across the state line into downtown Mission, where they ultimately settled into their location on Johnson Drive in 2011.
Along the way, they parted ways with the produce, and became a more traditional clothing and retail outlet, adding jewelry and other more lucrative inventory in the last decade.
“We gave up on produce before moving into our current location,” Ray Hanf said. “The cantaloupes go bad, the clothing doesn’t.”
Remaining inventory is now 50% off
With the closing date fast approaching, all remaining clothes, as well as other store inventory are on sale now at 50% off.
Becky says the couple plans to maintain a presence in the area (they live only 12 minutes from the store), but are also looking forward to their next chapter, and not having to report to the store six days a week.
Despite pressures to do so through the years, the couple maintained a traditional retail business model, while others around them tried to keep evolving with developing technology.
“We stayed a brick and mortar (operation) all these years,” Beck Hanf said. “We served our local customer base and (catered) to those women.”
The shop survived COVID-19
While Becky said branching out online always felt too expensive and burdensome for a small business like theirs, there was a notable exception: when they were closed for nearly two months in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ray and Becky at that time would take Facebook friends on virtual shopping tours of the store, and they zeroed in on a product that Becky calls “fancy sweat pants.”
Local shoppers fell in love with the “joggers” coming from overseas, boasting a “one-size-fits-all” cut and many colorful designs.
“Those ‘joggers’ got us through COVID,” Becky said. “Women just love them. I had 32 different designs in here at one time and they were all (selling out).”
All sales are final
On Mission Fresh Fashion’s Facebook page, the couple says they will be open every day from now until May 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (except Mother’s Day, when they’ll be closed).
They accept cash or credit card for all purchases, which will be final.
Clothing, jewelry and other accessories are all now marked at 50% off, and furniture and other store fixtures are priced as marked.
