Couple who own 16 shops bringing back Independence Square
Kansas City — On the once-dreary Independence Square, Cindy McClain seldom stops.
That’s her against the old-brick backdrop, clutching a white iPhone and moving from place to place. From the dining rooms of Ophelia’s to the Uptown Boutique and south to Gilbert, Whitney & Co., with its gleaming kitchenware and “specialty groceries,” if not many people.
From the chic furniture store, B Here Now, east past a quiet art gallery, another restaurant and around the corner to the Main Street Coffee House.
These businesses all belong to Cindy and husband Ken McClain. So does the square’s refurbished bowling alley. Plus the movie house, inn, yoga studio and Clinton’s Soda Fountain. The phone she carries alerts her to the sundry crises that arise with just one small business, much less 16.
The Square Pizza cook needs square pans. The Chamber of Commerce is piling into Ophelia’s for lunch. Cindy is a blond blur.
The McClains rose from common stock and magic memories of summers in Independence visiting grandparents to become the richest folks in the neighborhood. That’s mostly because he ranks among the country’s top personal-injury lawyers — but what about these businesses? For all he has spent reviving the historic square, a century-old floor at a time — maybe $25 million since the late 1990s — Ken figures he’s still in the hole for, let’s say, $25 million.
