Lucie Krisman  - Overland Park

Messenger Coffee halts plans for shop at Overland Park’s Prairiefire

Overland Park Messenger Coffee

Kansas City-based artisanal coffee company Messenger Coffee will no longer build a new store at Overland Park's Prairiefire shopping center. Photo via Messenger Coffee Instagram page.

Messenger Coffee has curbed plans for its first Johnson County location.

The artisanal coffee company based in Kansas City, Mo., has confirmed it is no longer going through with plans to add a long-anticipated new store at the Prairiefire complex in south Overland Park.

Overland Park Messenger Coffee
A rendering of what would have been a new Messenger Coffee shop at Overland Park’s Prairiefire shopping center. File image from DRAW Architecture.

Messenger was part of Prairiefire’s second phase

  • Plans by FairWave Holdings CEO, the company that owns Messenger Coffee, called for a 6,255-square-foot coffee shop near Chicken N Pickle and Andy’s Frozen Custard.
  • The shop would have included a full operating kitchen, coffee bar and bakery.
  • It also included indoor and outdoor seating, as well as a drive-thru.

Delays bogged down the store’s development

  • Messenger Coffee at Prairiefire was initially slated for a 2021 opening.
  • That got pushed from 2021 to late 2022 before the company halted its plans altogether.
  • In 2022, FairWave Holdings officials reported ongoing construction challenges from supply chain shortages on building materials as the reason for the delay.

This would have been Messenger’s first independent location

  • While this would have been the first FairWave Holdings-owned coffee shop under the Messenger Coffee name, the company currently operates two Johnson County coffee shops under different names.
  • That includes the Filling Station in Overland Park, across from Shawnee Mission North High School, and Black Dog Coffeehouse in Lenexa.
  • Last week, company officials said they still hope to expand Messenger Coffee into Overland Park eventually, and that the brand will continue to expand in Kansas City in the meantime.

Go deeper: Messenger Coffee delays opening at Prairiefire due to supply chain shortages, report says

Hi! I'm Lucie Krisman, and I cover the city of Leawood and the Blue Valley School District for the Post.

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A bit about me and my background:

I'm a native of Tulsa, Okla., but have been living in Kansas since I moved here to attend KU, where I earned my degree in journalism. Prior to joining the Post, I did work for The Pitch, the Eudora Times, the North Dakota Newspaper Association and KTUL in Tulsa.