Hello Sailor

The resurgent West Bottoms antique shops roll out the carpet on the first weekend of the month, loaded with food trucks and open doors all throughout. Guys, trust me when I say at some point your girlfriend/​girl who is a friend/​spouse/​mother WILL want to come to this sometime. I can admit, it’s pretty fun rummaging through the shops.
We find ourselves in the Hello Sailor shop more than some of the other ones because it definitely has the best layout. Some of the other shops are multiple floors with crowds and narrow staircases (admittedly part of the charm of the older repurposed buildings) that don’t make it quite as easy to navigate. Hello Sailor has a wide spread floor, less clutter, and more quality options.
I’ve noticed in a lot of these antique shops that the first 60 seconds can really determine if you’re going to like what they have. If you’re seeing mustard yellow couches and rows of cartoon farm animal cookie jars, it might be time to head to the next shop.
Bonus, they have public restroom in the middle of the shop.
Our latest excursion had us looking for a coffee table. My wife has a good eye and spotted a kitchen table and figured we could trim the legs on it. While it wasn’t marked, it didn’t take long to find someone who confirmed it was for sale, texted the owner and came back with a fair price.
Once you buy furniture, you can move your car carefully through the crowds out front and take a spot by their loading bay. They’ll have their staff bring it out and help you get it in the car if needed. If you aren’t able to fit it in your car that day you just save your receipt for the next time you can come in and they’ll get it out to you.

I loved the loft and the awesome freight elevator, went on all 3 floors, found beautiful cobalt blue glasses to match a set of dishes I already own!

Love their variety of items and prices from the affordable to the… wow, if only. We had tackled a couple of the vintage markets we didn’t want to miss before closing, but happily more are staying open later, so was able to get Hello Sailor in the day. I’m anxious to go back, as there are already a couple things I passed that I wished I had got. Also next month I want to go Friday for more selection. So glad the West Bottoms Vintage Markets are growing! Great addition to KC not only for locals, but also tourism, saw out of state license plates! Wait… that means competition for great stuff… shhhhh. Lets keep this a secret! ;)

This was my first visit to what is the 3^rd location that I have seen them in and I think they have really found a great place to be for them. They have continued their minimalist look with huge aisles that are very unusual down here in the W. Bottoms. I am used to more crowded together booths. This looks lovely, I hope it works out economically for them and the dealers so that they can all continue.
I never did get an offer of help with my hands full of merchandise, so I had to go back to the counter twice to drop off my merchandise so I could comfortably shop. That’s just a common thing that should be done at all antique stores, so they might want to work on that.
I went down to the new space in the basement that is very cavelike, with new modern railings-​another unusual space!
I did a lot of shopping yesterday and spent the most money at Hello Sailor, especially if I include the cupcakes at KC Cupcake Co that is right inside their space-​lucky them!
A good experience with room to improve.

I must admit I have avoided the West Bottoms, probably because I don’t love the «hype». But I love vintage and antique stuff and my friends kept raving about the stores down there and showed me some of the stuff they picked up, so I thought it would be best to go with an open mind and see if I could find anything cool.
Hello Sailor is in the Central Bag Co. Building. And I’d say one and a half stars out of this review are just for the fact that this is THE coolest space in the West Bottoms. Other buildings are really cool, but this one outshines them all.
Hello Sailor’s different than other stores in the Bottoms because it has a purposefully minimalistic layout. I say purposefully because some of the other stores seem like they are struggling to get enough vendors, while this store has a really cool feel to it.
The negatives are that it’s pretty dark in some parts and while the space would lend itself to some really eclectic or industrial style inventory, there’s still a lot of the run of the mill painted furniture scattered through the space.
I think with the right vendors this store could be top notch. So for now I’m only giving it 4 stars.

Well first of all, I love the name. I pretty much cannot say it without smiling.
The thing I like most about this particular antique store is that it’s well curated, and as a result relatively uncluttered. I didn’t see a ton of stuff that was my personal aesthetic, but I could at least recognize that the majority of stuff was quality merchandise. Also, they had a good number of large furniture pieces that I particularly liked. I’d definitely come here if I had lots of money and a great big loft. Some of the their oversized banquette tables were just stunning.
I will say that I think some of the staff could be a bit more responsive. I was heavily inspecting a giant armoire that didn’t have a price on it and the sales person (who was like 5 feet away) never bothered to offer any assistance. 20 minutes later I saw her giving all the details on the piece to some lady. What, because I’m in my 30s and a dude I’m not worth trying to sell expensive antiques? You don’t know much about the gays, lady.
I trust that was an isolated incident, however. I like this place, and I’d be glad to stop back in.

First of all, I give Hello Sailor a 3 star review because it has a lot of room to grow and the potential to be great but until it is closer to being completed, I don’t want to jump the gun!
Now on to my review… I originally stumbled upon the newest location of Hello Sailor because of an ad one of their sellers had placed on Craigslist for an adorable vintage settee. I was in the mood for a change in my furniture and was drawn to the idea something smaller and more vintage than the mixed and somewhat modern style I have now. Having only been to the original location just down the street one time, I was a little confused as to where I was supposed to go but the seller’s text message instructions guided me right to the front door with the new, make-​shift sign just down the block.
It’s easy to see that this new floor addition is still in it’s early stages of opening. Having just opened in September, there were still potential sellers being guided around the showcase floor when I visited in mid-​October. There was also a lot of open space just begging for vintage and antiqued goods to come play. That said, what I found in the partial collections being shown, were high quality items, expertly arranged, and being sold at decent prices. The sellers were all very nice and helped as much as they could, even if what I was looking at wasn’t something they were selling themselves. Everyone seemed to really work as a team and the overall atmosphere was welcoming and happy-​not dusty or overwhemingly cluttered like other shops in this shopping style. There were some pieces that were obviously updated with either paint or slip covers, which I didn’t really like too much, but most of what I saw there was high quality, and the sellers were very open about why some pieces had been altered from their original state.
While I did not walk away with any new additions to my apartment, I will be back and recommend that those dedicated West Bottoms first weekend shoppers make this a destination during the coming weekend’s festivities. There are also weekday hours available but not all sellers are available at all times. If you are there and interested in a particular piece, just ask another seller and they will give you that seller’s contact information and if they know them, the office hours when you can come in to snag a new treat for your home or apartment.