Oct

16

Stephenson’s for sale

October 16, 2005 |

The Star reports that Eastern Jackson County landmark Stephenson’s Apple Farm Restaurant is for sale. The restaurant is in jeopardy from the advancing age of it’s founders and the advancing sprawl of Independence and Lee’s Summit. Long a destination for people from miles around, it now has to compete in a brutal new E-Jack restaurant market. A slew of national chains started opening (and sometins rapidly closing) in southeastern Independence a few years ago, and the onslaught is headed down the road towards Lee’s Summit.

The seven acre parcel on the KC-Independence border at US 40 Hwy and Lee’s Summit Road has “potential strip mall” written all over it. Let’s all hope a restauranteur and not a developer buys Stephenson’s and continues a 57 year tradition of fantastic comfort food.

Lil’ Jake’s, the Flea Market, Stroud’s… Not a good year for local restaurants.


Comments

8 Comments so far

  1. worstweatherever on October 16, 2005 7:46 pm

    whats the status of the flea right now? any closing date rumored?

  2. Archangel on October 17, 2005 11:40 am

    Comfort food? Bleech! I’m glad someone likes Stephensons. My experiences there were horrible and I’d be willing to climb onboard the excavator to knock the walls down.

  3. Jim S on October 17, 2005 8:51 pm

    Noooooo. Sorry, Archangel but I’ve always had nothing but a good experience there.

  4. AeroSquid on October 18, 2005 2:25 pm

    i had a burger at the Flea Market last week and tyhe employees still had no idea when it was going to close. I got a coupon in the mail from them taht said “last chance for a flea market burger” but no date. =/

  5. Tim on October 19, 2005 5:31 am

    The flea market needs to go. I’m sorry, but piles of junk (read: lots of bugs and mice, etc.) and food don’t mix.

  6. Pamela on October 22, 2005 1:42 pm

    Absolutely LOVE Stephenson’s!! Home cooked food, friendly atmosphere, quaint dining rooms! We need to keep MORE of this type dining around and LESS CHAIN restaurants with impersonal service.

  7. Tim on October 27, 2005 7:53 am

    Chain restaurants are only a huge problem once you get outside of KC proper. Northtown, Eastern Jackson County, and of course, Johnson County are where you find most of them. Seems the suburbanites don’t know any better.

  8. union member from michigan on October 27, 2006 2:39 pm

    I have only had a great sense of family values and happy memories at Stephenson’s. I can’t even imagine letting this landmark disappear. The only type of person who would want this gone is a money hungry terrorist, so if that’s you go back to North Korea! God Bless America and Stephenson’s and the families of the greater Independence.

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