Get the perfect Kentucky Derby hat at this Crown Center specialty shop

The Missing Piece

Strolling through The Missing Piece (2450 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 816-421-1722) feels almost like a museum. The cozy hat store in Crown Center displays hundreds of fedoras, top hats, fascinators and what owner Michael Miller calls “big brim fancy hats” — or the hats that women wear for the Kentucky Derby in May, which Miller says they start buying in December.

Miller’s store feels like something out of a different era, and the proprietor has a few tricks you’d never guess up his sleeves, such as keeping his hats snug by adding weather stripping — like what you’d use to seal a window or door to keep out rain — to the inside edge of the hats.

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