Seiden’s Furs operated out of its downtown space at 10th and Broadway for 75 years before closing in 2006. The building then sat vacant for nearly two decades and was even slated for demolition in 2021. But developer Chris Sally of Iconic Preservation stepped in to save the structure, considered one of Kansas City’s oldest downtown buildings, and now it’s finally getting new life.
Chef Rick Mullins and bar and hospitality veteran Candice Moore are opening Loretta Jean’s Restaurant & Bar in the historic space, slated to debut in fall 2026 (935 Broadway Blvd., KCMO).
“The objective is to preserve the history of the building as much as it is to put a restaurant in there,” says Mullins. “It’s going to be loaded with artifacts and things unique to Kansas City.”
But don’t expect anything stuffy or pretentious, as that’s not their style. Mullins has built a reputation as something of a fermentation buff and has worked at several acclaimed local restaurants, including Bluestem, Gram & Dun, Cafe Sebastienne at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and The Town Co. inside Hotel Kansas City.
Moore is more experienced in the beverage side of things, having cut her teeth at Westport staples like The Riot Room, Davey’s Stagecoach Inn and The Blind Tiger. She later served as general manager at Brewery Emperial in the Crossroads and the beloved KCK dive bar Hillsiders.
Together, the pair plan to bring a playful sense of creativity to Loretta Jean’s while honoring the building’s past.
The restaurant’s menu will center on “New Midwestern” cuisine, highlighting seasonal, farm-driven ingredients sourced through Mullins’ longtime relationships with local farmers. A preservation program will extend those seasonal flavors throughout the year. Mullins is also excited to experiment with more unusual kitchen equipment like “freeze dryers, cotton candy machines, weird stuff like that.”
“Neither of us have been formally trained,” Mullins adds. “Creatively, without that formal training, we don’t necessarily have the same boundaries, or think, ‘We shouldn’t pair these things together,’ in a way that I think works to our benefit.”
Inside, Loretta Jean’s will blend the building’s past with contemporary design. Original elements, including a fur vault, vintage posters and the building’s iconic neon Seiden’s Furs fox sign, will remain as part of the design by John O’Brien of Hammer Out Design and Justin Gainan of J. Gainan Studio. The famous fox will also be incorporated into Loretta Jean’s logo. (The restaurant is named for Moore’s late grandmother, a lifelong Kansas Citian and Royals fan.)
The first-floor restaurant will span about 3,000-square-feet and feature a 24-seat horseshoe bar, an open kitchen with a wood-fired grill and banquettes beneath soaring 23-foot ceilings. Downstairs, a speakeasy-style private dining space called Josephine’s will host chef dinners and experimental menus.
According to Mullins, the basement bar will lean into a soft, monochromatic 1970s–’80s aesthetic with low lighting, inspired in part by Mullins’ love of the design in one of his favorite films, The Shining. Another favorite? Goodfellas. In a nod to the movie’s famous Copacabana tracking shot, guests heading downstairs will pass through the kitchen on their way to the basement.
“I love the openness and transparency of it,” Mullins says. “I think that makes people feel good about what we’re doing because they can see what we’re doing. It’s also just a cool sense of wonder.”
The bar menu will feature cocktails, beer cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks treated with equal care, along with a custom 3.5% ABV beer created by Brewery Emperial brewmaster Keith Thompson.
Loretta Jean’s is scheduled to open in fall 2026. Follow the restaurant on Instagram (@lorettajeans) for updates and details about pop-ups planned ahead of the opening.
More History on Seiden’s Furs
The historic building dates back to 1874, when it first opened as Brackett Brothers Drugstore. Over the decades it served a variety of uses, including a brothel, before becoming home to the furrier Reich and Seiden’s in 1931 and later Seiden’s Furs in 1935. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
After years of disrepair and a partial roof collapse in 2021, the building was nearly demolished before Sally stepped in to restore it. The project recently received a 2025 Historic Kansas City Preservation Award for Neighborhood Stabilization.
