Urban Arts + Crafts

Lovely store with a pretty kitty to greet you. Wishing I had found it earlier in my travels. They are in midst of closing the store down unfortunately. But wish them well as they go onto their next adventure.

Everyone know you get what you pay for. Well, if you feel like taking a break from the «big box» craft stores and from mediocre craft supplies, this is the place for you.
First off you walk into a bright, open and inviting space. Everything is thoughtfully arranged. There are beautiful, handmade papers hanging on the wall on one side and unique tote bags, notepads, and cases on the other.
Further in is their table and wall of beads! Even if you don’t know how to make jewelry it is beautiful to look at. They also have a great selection of findings and even stock some sterling silver findings which I have had a hard time finding.
Towards the middle of the shop is their fabric. The majority of what they carry is quilting cottons but they carry a lot of Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry, Anna Maria Horner, Tulla Pink, etc. These fabric designers are hard to find in Kansas City. Yes, the prices might be higher than what you are used to but these are high quality fabrics. They aren’t going to shrink half their size when you wash them once or fade or pill.
At the back of the shop is their yarn. They have a nice variety of yarns. You want a silk and merino blend yarn with sparkles for a shawl? They’ve got it. You want something machine washable that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg for a baby blanket? They have that too.
I’ve always found the staff to be helpful and ready to answer any questions I had about materials or projects I was working on. They also do classes here and I have learned how to knit and how to make jewelry there. All of my teachers were great and the classes were small which helps with the learning I think. You can find their current class schedule online or stop in and grab a brochure.

Based on Internet reviews, I wasn’t sure if this place was still open. But I needed a specific, high-​end yarn for a project and thought I would check before I drove to Overland Park or bought online.
They are open, but I can’t imagine why. I walked in, and aside from a hello as I came in the door, not a soul spoke, asked what I wanted or acknowledged me in any way. In contrast, I went to Knit Craft in Independence where I was greeted immediately, asked how I could be helped, and was shown every yarn in the store that came close to meeting my criteria. I know where I am going the next time I need nice yarn.

I’ve been on their email list since they opened. I finally got to actually visit the store this past Thursday when I was in the area and it was a haven from my crazy life.
Urban Arts and Crafts is a high end craft store and the service was friendly and helpful.
I bought a new Berocco sox yarn and knitting needles (you can never have enough yarn or knitting needles) and plan to go back to get some unique beads to make Circle of Life prayer bead bracelets for some friends. I’m also thinking of taking one of their classes, which are reasonably priced.
Their email list is excellent and the owner’s blog, which is new is also excellent.
I think I found my new favorite craft store… a wonderful haven in Briarcliff.

They’ve got fancy paper, ya’ll!
I was pretty excited to visit this store but had no idea what to expect. The window displays are very contemporary, not quite sure if they’re Urban, but it caught my eye.
I like things. Things like ipad covers, bags, cards, little doo dads like that and I went nuts on buying them. The crafting part, I’m glad to know it’s there. This year must be the year of ‘making your own bag.’ as there was a wall dedicated to it. There were also helpful craft books, fabrics and sewing stuff.
And then I found the store cat. I heart store cats.
The prices are around what you would expect for a boutique craft store, you’ll pay more than JoAnns or Michaels but keep an eye for their sales and you’re going home with something fancy. The selection is obviously not as extensive as the big craft stores but sometimes it’s nice to visit somewhere nich (ie)
The employees are helpful and we share similar tastes in cool crafting, she even asked if I’d bring in pictures to show her my progress. Pretty cool.

I love this place. It’s got a little bit of everything, for all your crafting wants/​needs. I always buy something when I make the trek. I LOVE all their envelopes, which I incorporate in my scrapbooks. It’s a fun place, but if you’re looking for a HUGE selection for your particular craft-​sorry, not gonna happen. It’s like a boutique, which is what most, if not all, of those stores are in Briarcliff. Overall, they sell good quality stuff, and I highly recommend checking them out!

Crafting is definitely one of my favorite things to do. I do crocheting and knitting usually and I usually turn into a crazed magpie when confronted with an assortment of shiny beads.
All that being said, I actually found this place because I had a sewing project I was doing with a machine and ran out of bobbin thread. It was the closest to me which is a first when trying to find craft stores.
I drove there and was immediately unimpressed with the selection that they had. They carry a small selection of most every crafting accessory and most of it is designer which is fine, except I didn’t see hardly any of the sewing basics. I’m not entirely sure who their target audience is.
I would give it three stars except the service left something to be desired. Not a hello or anything from the employee working, though she did watch me as i looked around and not in the helpful way. I felt more like I was being watched to make sure I didn’t steal anything. There were several people there that seemed to work there and not a single person asked if I needed help or anything.
I would definitely recommend another store or even online crafting supplies instead of this place.
P. S. The whole of Briarcliff Village needs to find better ways to put up signs, I drove past this place three times in the parking lot before I finally noticed the word Urban.

If you’ve ever tackled a craft project that was a wee bit over your head, you know the value of a real live person who can answer your questions. Cheer you on. Pat your hand. Tell you it’s going to be ok.
There’s just such a person at Urban Arts + Crafts. Her name is Courtney. I came in one Sunday with an idea, a crotchet pattern book and not much else. Courtney was über helpful and went above and beyond to understand what I wanted to do and tell me how to get there with the right yarn for the job. She didn’t even snicker when I called my crotchet hook a needle, (but of course my daughter did).
If you’ve got the crotchet bug but no project in mind, Urban Arts + Crafts offers classes too, some of which Courtney teaches. Given her friendly demeanor and formidable knowledge base, I have no doubt she can make a crotcheter out of anyone who wants to learn.

Arts and Crafts, no matter how Urban, are not even remotely in my universe. Appreciating them, for sure, but not crafting. However, if I ever need a gift for my more crafty friends, this is the first place I think of looking.
Urban Arts + Crafts has something for every area of crafting. There are beautiful papers for scrap booking and card making — stamps and stickers too! The yarn is amazing! They have walls of different colors, textures, and types of yarn. There are fabrics for quilting, beads for beading, and books for instructing those of us what to do with the wonders within the doors. They also have some unique jewelry pieces and knitted items if you are looking for a unique gift.
Some of the more crafty members of my family have taken classes offered by the staff, and they were very pleased. A gift certificate is also a great idea if you’re not sure exactly what to get.
I don’t craft, probably never will, but even I can enjoy a trip through the doors of Urban Arts + Crafts!

This is a nice little store tucked in a hard-​to-​find shopping center. I was visiting from out of town and my husband and I had kind of a hard time finding the store. (It probably didn’t help that Google Maps had one of the nearby streets named differently than what it was actually called.) When we finally got there, though, I found some really cool stuff. They had designer cotton/​quilting fabrics, rubber stamps, crafts books, beads, yarns, scrapbooking supplies, decorative papers and sewing & knitting notions.
What I Liked
They had some nice Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry and other designer fabrics. There was also a really nice selection of crafts books and decorative papers. They also had a cute black-​and-​white cat that seemed pretty friendly. The salespeople were also very friendly and the store had a nice clean, modern feel to it.
What I Didn’t Like
I was expecting to see a lot more fabrics. Most of the fabrics I saw were ones that I already had or could get easily from other places. They didn’t seem to have a lot of newer fabrics. I would also liked to have seen more Kokka and Echino fabrics because those are hard to find in stores and I mostly buy them online.
I know they’re probably trying to appeal to a lot of different type of crafters and not just sewers and knitters, but I wish they would decide what kind of crafter they’re trying to appeal to. I think they’re trying to appeal to everyone instead of focusing on a specific type of crafter and they’re trying to be everything to everyone. I would rather have seen just fabrics and yarns or just rubber stamps and scrapbooking supplies, or even just beads because their bead selection wasn’t very large. Their selections of everything in each category really weren’t very large, in fact.
And when I asked one of the salespeople if a certain metal jewelry finding was brass or if she knew if it was nickel-​free, she didn’t know. As a jewelry maker and seller, I have to know if jewelry findings are nickel-​free because some of my customers have metal allergies. So I ended up not buying the metal finding, because I didn’t know what kind of metal it was.
And finally, when I had some fabric cut, the woman who helped me didn’t cut the fabric. She tore it. While some people would argue that tearing the fabric ensures that the fabric is ripped along the grain line, I prefer to have my fabric cut with a rotary cutter.
This store is definitely a lot better than JoAnn’s, Michaels or Hobby Lobby, but I don’t think I would make a special trip to go here. If I were already in the neighborhood, I might stop by, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to shop here.

Oh, yeah!
Here’s the skinny: you can go to your local big-​box craft store and get a taste of inspiration, or you can visit Urban Arts and Crafts and get a 5-​course meal of inspiration.
This place is a piece of art in itself, with beautiful example displays of things you can do with its many products in store: scrapbooking, knitting, fabrics, jewelry, purse making, collage making, embellishments, etc. Though the selection of each of these genres isn’t completely thorough, the inspiration and unique nature of the items will blow your mind (see: Amy Butler fabrics). The store also offers tons of classes and how-to’s. Even their website is inspiration-​worthy.
I don’t mind making the trip North of the River from south of the city for this place. Helps that it is located (new!) in a beautiful shopping center and offers lots of parking.
Urban Arts and Crafts is a KC gem.

We stopped in here on our way home from the Kid Rock concert. What a awesome store. A really nice selection of different and interesting products. Staff is very nice and helpful. And Annie the cat is a sweetheart.

I’m not quite sure that Urban Arts and Crafts deserves a full 3 stars yet, but 2 seems a bit harsh, so 3 it is.
I’m a «beader», so I specifically went in to check out their beads and jewelry findings. They get major points for having a very nice selection of sterling silver findings and clasps, and I was excited to see some clasp designs that I had only been able to find online before now. So that was pretty awesome, and I’ll probably be back for the clasps alone. The beads themselves were nothing super special (not a huge selection) — I usually use semi precious and natural stones, and there wasn’t a lot of that there, so I’ll stick to buying those online/​elsewhere. I did find some Mirage beads (I had never even heard of those before), which are sort of like mood jewelry for adults (as in, they change colors based on body heat), and being a good little consumer who is taken with anything new and funky like that, I picked up a few of those. They seem to be good quality, and are nice and heavy, which I like.
The clasps were very reasonably priced, and I’m not sure about the Mirage beads — seemed a bit expensive, but I’ll have to shop around to get a handle on price.
There seemed to be a lot of other craft supply options for folks who do more than beading, so if you’re a crafter, or just sometimes like to throw together pretty little DIY projects, I’d suggest stopping in to look around.
I like that they offer classes, and I can see myself wanting to take a couple when the colder months set in. I also liked that there’s apparently a store cat! Now, I’m not totally a cat person, but hey, it’s cool when stores have an animal just hanging out and greeting people… and the cat had his little bed in the yarn area. Seriously. How freaking cute is that?

I like Urban Arts and Crafts. They carry the entire Barrocco Yarn line, and also the Noro line. Can I end my review there?
Oh, I have to go on. They carry a nice selective type of jewelry findings, and cool patterns to go with it. I hate going to this place, cause my wallet seems to scream at me. It’s not a Hobby Lobby, or a yarn shop per se, or even a quilt shop. They carry the entire stock of Amy Butler line of cotton for quilting, and her patterns, and other cool patterns. Seriously, not found anywhere else in Kansas City. Harpers does carry the Amy Butler line, as well, but Urban Arts and Crafts have the coolest selection of odd patterns.
I used to love this shop in the River Market, and wasn’t happy with the move to Briarcliff. But now that Ive found an easier way than the interstate to get there, I’ll be going here more often.
The selection carried at this shop is handpicked, and special. The knitting needles selection is better than any other in the area. The scrapbook paper is also a hand picked selection. The jewelry findings isn’t anything cheap or cheap looking, but real silver. Real copper, Real gold.
I was in there for yarn. I also eyed a pretty skein of the softest yarn I’ve ever seen in my life, with beads and sequins, and a nice price tag of 48.00 (Cashmere). They carry the entire line of Brown sheep, as well, as the affordable Barrocco. I didn’t know how much yardage I’d need to complete a sweater. The employee got on line for me, and found the sweater pattern. They also are great to roll the yarn into balls. (TYVM, saves me from doing it).
But along with the yarn, I always glance at the jewelry findings. And the patterns. And the whole store. Really worth the trip. The employees know their products and can help anyone with anything in the store. I’ve always found it a fun store to visit.

I had visited this store back in the beginning when it was on the City Market. I really liked it, but never made it back for classes or ATC nights.
I visited UA&C recently and was rather disappointed. I did like their large selection of beads on the front table. Unfortunately, having not ‘crafted’ anything in a few years, I need some refreshing. I was in the store wandering around and despite the fact that I tried to get an employee’s eye, and I’m sure I looked lost, I never once received an offer of help… not even a HELLO when I came in.
Sure, I’d just been in Land of Paws where the service was nice, but this was a real let down.
I had my money out basically and ready to buy, but without assistance to find what I might need, or even any type of customer service, the cash remains in my pocket.
:(I really wanted to have a good experience.