photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

The new Rally House store at 23rd and Iowa streets includes a large selection of KU merchandise.

This is the weekend where Jayhawk blue and Wildcat purple are likely to mix at watch parties for Saturday’s KU vs. K-State basketball game. It also is the weekend where I may end up wearing a bowl of cheese dip if I partake in the Rock Chalk chant a bit too loudly next to the wrong person. That’s OK. I like cheese, and now there is a big new store open in Lawrence to get plenty of fresh KU gear.

As we reported in November, Rally House signed a deal to open a new sportswear store at 23rd and Iowa streets in the former location of Cork & Barrel liquor store, which has moved a bit east on 23rd Street.

But, at that time, we didn’t have any information to report on whether this was going to be an additional store for Rally House in Lawrence or whether it was looking to close its downtown location, which operates under the Kansas Sampler brand name but is owned by the same parent company.

Now, we’ve got that answer. Rally House is keeping the downtown location open, under the theory that you can never have too many Jayhawk shirts in Lawrence.

Well, Rally House is certainly going to test that theory, anyway, and do it with a big store. The company opened the new store on Friday, and it checks in at 15,000 square feet, which is nearly three times larger than its downtown store.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

The new Rally House store at 23rd and Iowa streets is pictured on Jan. 21, 2022.

The store, of course, will have lots of Jayhawk sportswear, wall hangings and other KU-branded merchandise. But it also will carry K-State, Chiefs, Royals, and Sporting merchandise, in addition to gear for smaller colleges like Washburn, Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State, the company said in a release. Other product lines include state of Kansas-themed merchandise, sunflower-themed products, and Wizard of Oz gear. (You have to have a pair of slippers for a Wizard of Oz tailgate, after all.)

Rally House is based in Lenexa and is a family-owned business. But it has become a fairly large one. The Lawrence store is the 100th location for Rally House, which operates in multiple states. The company got started by the Liebert family in 1989 with a Kansas Sampler store in Overland Park. The new Lawrence location is technically its third in the city. In addition to the Kansas Sampler downtown, it also operates a store inside Allen Fieldhouse. The company said in a release that it has new stores under development in Texas, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

•••

I’ve got news of another longtime business that started small but has grown quite a bit larger. Johnny’s Tavern got its start in 1953 in North Lawrence, and that location is still standing. But it also is set to open its 13th location, this one in Raymore, Mo., later this year.

Earlier this week, Johnny’s Tavern was named restaurant of the year by the Kansas City Restaurant Association, and longtime owner Rick Renfro and business partner Louie Riederer were named operators of the year.

Renfro has owned Johnny’s since 1978, and he said the pandemic has been challenging, but not enough to cause the company to slow down on its expansion plans. He thinks businesses like Johnny’s Tavern have staying power even when the world gets a little rocky.

“I don’t think inflation or COVID or the housing market or stock market have that much effect on us because we are like a true neighborhood bar and restaurant,” Renfro told me. “We’re just kind of part of people’s 5-mile radius.”

That’s not to say that the pandemic hasn’t thrown a lot of curves at the business. Renfro said it has required a lot of planning, and a lot of understanding that those plans often don’t entirely work.

“I wish I could say I had a plan and it all came to fruition,” said Renfro, who thanked his staff for much of the business’ success. “But it is really just about keeping your nose down and showing up.”

While the business is still in growth mode, a project that has been talked about for years at the original Johnny’s Tavern in North Lawrence doesn’t appear to be happening anytime soon. I’ve written several times about how Renfro and other investors want to build a small commercial district — a downtown-like extension — surrounding Johnny’s at 401 N. Second St. Notably, that would include new buildings that would overlook the Kansas River levee, giving Lawrence a set of waterfront dining and living options.

But that project has been in development for years. Renfro told me this week that it isn’t dead, but also isn’t happening anytime soon.

“My standard line on that is it was on the front burner, then we moved it to a back burner, and now it is off to the side in one of those slow cookers,” Renfro said.

He said the project has been very complicated with lots of moving parts involving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the railroad company, the electric company and other entities that either have regulatory control over the area or have key pieces of infrastructure running through that stretch of the Kaw River corridor.

“But, individually, everybody says they still want to see something happen,” Renfro said. “It is just getting it figured out and getting the money.”

photo by: Submitted photo

Business partners Louie Riederer and Rick Renfro are pictured after their business, Johnny’s Tavern, was recently named restaurant of the year by the Kansas City Restaurant Association. In the background is a portrait of Johnny Wilson, the namesake of the original Johnny’s that opened in 1953 in North Lawrence.