After 47 years, this Kansas City shop is closing last location. Everything is on sale

David Hudnall
·1 min read

Function Junction, a gourmet housewares shop founded in Kansas City in 1977, is closing its last remaining retail location.

Its final day on the second floor of the Crown Center Shops will be June 30.

Mary Merola was just 23 when she and Steve Eberman opened Function Junction, selling hard-to-find utensils and cookware on the Country Club Plaza.

Function Junction has been a local gourmet cookware destination for nearly 50 years.
Function Junction has been a local gourmet cookware destination for nearly 50 years.

“I tried to find companies that really (had) that creative vibe and were not in the broadest distribution,” she said.

Function Junction eventually grew to 17 stores, some local (Ward Parkway Center, Oak Park Mall) and some outside of Kansas City (St. Louis, Wichita, Omaha). In 1998, the company filed for bankruptcy, downsized, reorganized, and carried on. The Plaza location closed in 2008, leaving just the shop at Crown Center.

“These decades were more than introducing the newest, most innovative kitchen tools and cookware,” Merola, who now owns Function Junction with her wife, Rebecca Merola, said in a release. “It has been a privilege to forge friendships and long-term relationships with customers. I know many by name, and we share memories each time we meet.”

Function Junction was founded in Kansas City in 1977.
Function Junction was founded in Kansas City in 1977.

Everything in the store — grilling kits, espresso machines, tea kettles, baking sheets, paring knives and much more — is marked down between 20% and 70% off through the end of June.