Last week, Brooke and Dave Franklin’s mission of providing a “one-stop shop” for locally-made goods finally came to fruition.
While the husband-and-wife duo have been hard at work renovating and stocking the shelves of their new Shawnee store, they said the surrounding community has been curious about when they might be able to shop there.
On Wednesday, the couple opened the doors of Franklin General Store to their first customers.
Franklin General Store opened at 11405 Johnson Drive
- The store opened at the southwest corner of Johnson Drive and Flint Street in downtown Shawnee.
- Previous occupants include a law office, a chiropractic office, and the Red Thread gift shop.
- Franklin General Store’s regular hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Franklin General Store focuses on locally-made goods
On the shelves at Franklin General Store, customers are likely to find items from Kansas and Missouri-based vendors that they’ve seen around at farmers markets.
In total, the store offers items from roughly 40 vendors. For just a few examples, the store offers juices from Zen Donkey Farms and Ruby Jean’s Juicery, pints of ice cream from Flint Hills Pints, coffee from Hermetheus Coffee, pasta from Zero Zero Handmade Pasta, and cheese from Green Dirt Farm.
In addition to food, the store offers a few non-edible items like puzzles from Kansas City Puzzle Company and soap from Clean Hands Organics.
Even if customers aren’t shopping, they can also stop in and grab coffee, tea, kombucha or baked goods from a rotating selection. Later on, the Franklins also plan to add grab-and-go sandwiches.
The goal, the owners said, was to provide a “one stop shop” for anything a customer might need — essentially a nod to the way things were before the age of big box stores.
“It’s a little mix of everything,” Brooke said. “We tried to get a little bit of everything that you would find in a grocery store.”
The store is a passion project for its owners
Prior to opening the general store, Brooke Franklin worked as an urban conservationist for the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service — an agency geared toward helping farmers become more sustainable. She also previously taught classes on food sustainability as an adjunct professor at Johnson County Community College.
Through working with farmers and learning about the local food system, she discovered what she described as a lack of opportunity for customers to find clean ingredients and a lack of places for farmers to sell their own clean ingredients.
With Franklin General Store, the owners hope to address both of those issues.
“Every vendor is so excited,” she said. “(Customers here) are supporting local businesses and keeping the money local, and I think that’s one of the best things about it.”
As Shawnee residents themselves, the couple said they knew they wanted their store to be in their hometown’s downtown area. With Franklin General Store, they look forward to bringing something new to the community — and embarking on a new chapter themselves.
“I always wanted to own my own business,” Brooke Franklin said. “We really like it here, and I thought the store would be a perfect fit for downtown Shawnee.”
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