Matt Baysinger and Lucas Thompson, the self-described “soda dorks” behind downtown Lawrence’s Mass Street Soda, are taking their love of sweet, fizzy drinks to the Kansas City area.

The space, located in the Legends outlet mall in Kansas City, Kan., will be directly under Dave and Buster’s at 1847 Village West Parkway, suite C127.

At approximately 1,600 square feet, Kansas City Soda Co. will be similar in concept to the Lawrence flagship store, says Baysinger, a Kansas University alum and Johnson County native.

“It’s essentially identical to our Lawrence store,” says Baysinger, who expects the new branch to open by June 1. “We’re building it from the ground up. It might just look a little more polished.”

Mass Street Soda, 1103 Massachusetts St., has generated a following for its seemingly endless inventory of premium craft sodas since opening last April. The place boasts more than 1,300 varieties, including offbeat picks like Beefdrinker Teriyaki Beef Jerky Soda and Olde Brooklyn Birch Beer, and ships products to online customers across the country.

Now, Baysinger and Thompson are at work launching their own line of sodas, with plans to roll out the first four varieties (Baysinger says they’ll include “staples” like root beer and cream soda, plus a few surprises) in the next four to six months. The duo hope to launch an additional four flavors by the end of the year.

It’ll bear the name of the K.C. branch, but Baysinger says day-to-day operations will remain here in town.

“We’re excited to expand in Kansas City, but our roots are in Lawrence and they will always be in Lawrence,” he says. “This is our home.”

In addition to opening a new business in Kansas City, Mass Street Soda will be having another grand opening of sorts next week to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Lawrence store.

“Because we never had an official grand opening, we figured it would be a perfect time to go ahead and celebrate,” explains a Facebook post. From 4:30-9 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, at the store, there will be a ribbon-cutting, live music, a photo booth and, naturally, free soda. There’s no word on if they’ll be giving out complimentary samples of the beef jerky flavor.