It’s A Beautiful Day

Right when you walk in, it smells like like free love! One of my favorite stores in KC! If you have any sort of free spirit in you, this is the place to be!
I love coming here for hemp jewelry, cool bags, and dashikis. They have SO many stellar items here. They carry items from Gypsy Rose, which is a catalog I really love. I’ve found cool stickers here, toe rings, you name it! Love it, love it, love it. Embrace your inner hippie and stop in if you have the chance!

I always enjoy visiting this shop when I’m in the area. I could spend all my money here! I love their selection of jewelry, everything from handmade hemp/​string bracelets to cute sterling silver rings. They have a lot of fun little decorative nic nac’s for very reasonable prices. They only accept cash or check, I forgot this the last time I went and had to make a trip to the walgreens across the street to get some cash back. $ 20 was enough to cover a few bracelets, a small coin purse and a wind chime, I plan on going back in a few weeks for some rings when they get some in my size!

Eric the turntable guy is the nicest guy. He’ll go the extra mile to fix any turntable, he loves what he does.

This is the number one place in KC that you should NOT shop just before:
A) A very important job interview
B) Meeting your uptight potential in-​laws for the first time
because you’ll come out of there smelling like David Crosby. Well, minus the actual cannabis fragrance.
But if you ever lived or loved the era of the flower child, you should definitely go! It’s all there: tie-​dye, long skirts, handmade jewelry, patches, buttons, bumper stickers, vinyl, posters, incense, everything but the smoking accessories. Prices range from reasonable to jaw-​dropping cheap sometimes: $ 3 for a braided leather bracelet, for cryin’ out loud, I wear three every day. The staff are as laid back and friendly as you’d expect, and the music is the best.
So «drop out» for awhile at It’s A Beautiful Day, as long it’s okay that you smell like a crash pad the rest of the day!

This is my favorite shop in Kansas City, every time I come home to visit I make time to stop in and say hello! I like to buy my grateful dead tshirts, patches, stickers, glass pendants, tapestry, head bands, hats, and bags from here! They have everything you could ever need to be lot/​festi ready. Even in my current city of Colorado Springs people talk about this shop!
I enjoy the relationships they build with you, making you feel as if you are helping the shop live and breath! Plus it is so refreshing to support your local artist and small business!
Do not park in the adjacent parking lot — you will be towed!

People who appreciate vinyl need to know about this place. The back room has hundreds of vintage albums at very reasonable prices– every thing from hard rock, folk, country, etc to classical. Every decade is represented and the search is fun. The guy in charge is Eric who is knowledgable about turntables (does repairs) and old audio. He is super nice– it is hard to find someone like him these days. Everything in this store is worth looking over.

I used to sell hemp necklaces here, and Fay and everyone else at the store are really nice, thoughtful, and kind people, and genuinely nice business owners are almost impossible to find these days. I have found a lot of nice quality items here, plus records and books. Basically anything creative, and their incense selection is some of the best in the city, at the best prices. Even if you’re not a hippie, I’d suggest checking it out. Honestly, I think people have hippies wrong. Some hippies have jobs, some hippies are good people, and some people are just a little too judgmental on what they see on the outside. ;)

In this ever-​changing, continually updating and improving society, how does a small shop keep surviving and florishing? By being the coolest shop ever, of course! And that’s ‘It’s A Beautiful Day!’
From beads, to records ~ handmade cards, incense and candles ~ jewelry to the most fashionable clothing and accessories, some from local artists… it’s all right there! Friendly service, and the charm of a comfortable neighbor’s home.
It’s been one of my all-​time favorite shops for a long time, and now, my grankids are shopping there! It’s for everyone.

Great Store. I love all the hippy throwbacks. You won’t be disappointed.

I love this shop. It’s a great experience to go in and find handmade products by local artists and tons of information about the local music going on in the area. I absolutely love buying things handmade.
They may be small but they have a large variety of items; I’m especially fond of the tie-​dyes, jewelry, and handbags.
The staff is always friendly and I like the fact that they don’t accept credit cards, keeps me from spending all my money in there!
Highly recommend if you’re down in the Wesport area that you get your bum to It’s A Beautiful Day, it’s worth checking out.

First time I walked in the door of «it’s a beautiful day,» I knew this was the place for me. I was in 8^th grade an I remember it like it was yesterday. Went in and everyone was so friendly and compassionate. Long story short, everyone knows me by name now, if it wasn’t for that first day being so great I probably wouldn’t have gone again. I’m 21 now and I still love it just like I did when I was 14.

There’s some terrible, and intentional, forgetfulness in me that refuses to acknowledge the fact that stores like this even exist. Maybe it’s because I worked in a record shop for nearly four years, and the smell of patchouli oil sends me into a total crybaby tantrum. I think main-​stream «hippie» culture is completely unacceptable, and for one reason or another, (all the tie-​dye,) I have always considered this place a «hippie» store. Therefore, I avoided it with every fiber of my being.
Man, was I wrong.
Rachel has had this awesome Sansui Classique 250T turntable for years, and it’s never worked. For one reason or another, it never occurred to me to get it up and running until recently, when my friend Chris Gates of the legendary Austin, TX punk band Big Boys sent me all of their stuff on vinyl. Understandably, I’ve been on a mission to listen to this stuff every since.
One day, and on foot, I walked all over the city looking for a place to get this thing repaired and heard the same thing at every record store:
«You need to go to It’s a Beautiful Day. They’ll sort you out.»
With a heavy sigh, and my turntable in hand, we walked into the place today.
While there does seem to be an enormous amount of «novelty» wares up front, the record shop hidden in the back is an awesome place to score rare 45’s and/​or a new power amp, reel-​to-​reel player, etc…
The REAL magic of It’s a Beautiful Day, however, comes by way of it’s electronic repair staff. After complimenting the quality of my turntable, the repair man offered an array of replacement parts of varying prices. He explained with expert knowledge and detail the attributes of each part by manufacturer, use, and price.
He repaired the turntable by hand in front of me, and tested it on their store Hi-​Fi to insure me that it was functional to my satisfaction.
He then charged me thirty dollars.
I had anticipated a price tag five times that amount!
It’s because of the fine, friendly, and expert repair staff that all of my reviews this evening are being written to the sounds of The Cars, Billie Holiday, Johnny Cash, and even my beloved Big Boys on sweet, sweet vinyl.

I love It’s a Beautiful Day. If I liked venturing into KC more often, I’d be at the store all the time. The staff is nice and helpful and I love that they carry some Knotty Boy products. I would definitely swap out my entire wardrobe for the clothes at It’s a Beautiful Day.

Cotton, embroidery, patchwork, sunbursts, appliques… I’m on a quest to now change out every uptight, tailored, stuck up and tight fitting, itchy outfit I own, infavor of the clothes in this shop.
I used to hang out here in the early ’90’s, before my world crashed with Jerry Garcia’s death. Then I closeted it, and tried to not allow for what I had liked, and I accepted the clothing of Macy’s and Gordmans, I don’t know why I did that, to this day. I was constantly looking for the type of clothing sold at It’s A Beautiful Day. Not any more.
I went to this store cause of the 420 Celebration. I am not a pothead, but I like the attitude and the music. The store has hemp leaf cookie cutters, and cupcake pans shaped like hemp leaves, and ice cube trays shaped like hemp leaves. It’s not a smoke shop, this is a boutique for the mind. I didn’t see one smoking accessory.
It is the only store near here that sells all the Grateful Dead patches you’d want, bracelets, t-​shirts, even pants. Yep, I saw Steal Your Face pants, and Beatles pants. The skirts from local designers, are made for all sized women, and not just junior’s. They also have a generous selection of children’s clothing in the same era. Not having done enough ‘shrooms to understand, I never get the allure of tie-​dye, but it is there, also.
The staff is über cool, the parking, oh… I had to figure out creative, non street parking. I figure, I’ll get enough street parking when visiting this shop, each and every pay day, to change out my wardrobe. Oh, one more thing, they don’t accept credit cards, which is probably a good thing for me, cause I’ll have the exact amount I want to spend in my purse when I go into the door.

I give It’s a Beautiful Day 5 stars because they are the only shop in town like this. I noticed a grumbling, and critical review by a woman from Haight Asbury which seems REALLY unfair. This is Kansas City, the bible belt, conservative ideology abounds!
Walking into It’s a Beautiful Day is like walking back in time. As a child of the 60’s and 70’s, this is my tribe. I have purchased several items for my yoga studio including a fabulous folk-​art Ganesha statue, a gong and some tignsha bells.
This is also my secret place to buy yoga tunics. At least that’s how I wear them. They are simply cute, retro, short dresses that I like to wear over my yoga clothes.
I also collect embroidered patches (they have a HUGE collection). Some day I will figure out what to do with them… ha!
This is a great store to buy a special gift for a friend, especially if they have a bit of hippie in their blood.

This is my favorite store in Kansas City. I have shopped here for almost 15 years. This is NOT a headshop. They do carry a wide variety of quality hemp products and items that would fall into the spiritual or liberal category. If you are an uptight conservative that thinks cannabis is the Devil’s weed, do not go to this store. If you are an enlightened liberal that cares about humanity, this is the store for you.

Adorable little hippie shop. This place is always packed full of interesting stuff: clothing screenprinted by local artists, cool and unique hats, boxes and boxes of music, art prints, random fun stuff like incense and fliers for concerts, headbands, tapestries, you name it, they’ve got it. And a bit of pot-​smoking-​esque paraphernalia, too, but I tend to ignore that part. :)
The staff is totally friendly and laid-​back. Once I even got a bag handmade by a local artist there for $ 5, on sale because it had a small tear in it. I highly recommend this place for anyone who enjoys culture and interesting little indie shops. I always enjoy my visits and usually end up wishing I had more money to spend there.

So, I’m not the best person to review this place since I feel the hippie movement to be almost as useless of a subculture as the fixie ridin’ sidebaggers. That being said…
This shop is a great place for crate diggers and vinyl heads alike. Though the selection is not giant, the prices are right and I have found some serious gems in the 45 box…
I never would have guessed this place to be a serious record shop… I was wrong and it’s my loss for not knowing sooner.

Call me spoiled. I did live on Haight street, and I am quite aware of hippie nature. This place seemed like a joke, a really bad impression of a Cheech and Chong movie. Everything from the guys behind the counters saying «excuse me, I must help the beautiful womanly creatures ready to buy» (really?) to the poor excuse of a music collection (since when did U2 become head shop music?). Sure they had the clothes, Bob Marley and Jerry Garcia shirts, hippie skirts with bells for the ladies, and hemp Jesus sandals, but also a sore used book collection, an undiscriminating incense section (just because it comes from India does not mean its quality), and just because there’s a marijuana leaf on it does not make it a worthy purchase (a cultural phenomenon, not their fault).
I do give them credit for opening a shop like this in a red state. And it seems to be doing pretty well, just please lay off the stereotypes…

It’s hard to be a progressive thinker in an age of anti-​enlightenment. Sometimes, knowing there are others like me is the only thing that pulls me out of my funk. And if there’s not a peace vigil to join or a Unitarian Church event to attend, I remember It’s a Beautiful Day.
If you’ve passed by the store on the northeast edge of Westport but didn’t think you had the hippie street cred to go in, don’t worry. This is not a head shop (they’re illegal, you know) or a hip-​for-​the-​sake-​of-​it store. It’s merely a cozy, cluttered collection of tie-​dyed clothing, hemp products, old and new CDs, jewelry, and all the ingredients for creating ‘60s ambiance in your 21^st-​century pad. I love it when I buy a shirt there and can bury my face in it days later and still catch a whiff of nag champa. Everything I’ve purchased has been well-​made too, which I can’t say about mass-​produced retro ware.
It’s a Beautiful Day doesn’t just sell stuff, it promotes awareness. If you were beamed here from another era and had no sense of the culture you landed in, reading some of the bumper stickers that cover a good share of the available wall space would quickly get you up to speed. Add to that the conversations you might overhear at the counter, the fliers taped to the door, even the music you hear — and the collective message is clear, «Counter-​culture is very much alive and well in Kansas City.»
The next time you’re disillusioned with the world, clear the clouds and remind yourself It’s a Beautiful Day.