Kansas City beekeeping business expands to new location in suburb’s downtown

Lee’s Summit’s flowering downtown has attracted a new shop. The honey hub Messner Bee Farm opened a second storefront earlier this month at 26 S.E. Third St., a space formerly occupied by Cameron’s Home Furnishings. The company’s retail path in some ways mirrors that of its husband-and-wife owners Rachael and Erik Messner. Both went to elementary school in Raytown, where Messner Bee Farm has been based since 2017, and then attended high school in Lee’s Summit. “We have roots in both these places,” Rachael Messner said. “It’s interesting that the business is sort of growing up in the same places we did.” The shop is located at 26 S.E. 3rd St. in Lee’s Summit. David Hudnall dhudnall@kcstar.com The shop sells a wide variety of honeys — infused, raw, creamed — as well as beeswax products like lip balm, candles, colognes, perfumes and soaps. The Messners — she’s a Kansas City Art Institute grad, he’s a structural engineer by training — built their first beehive back in 2011, when they were living in south Kansas City. They eventually made lip balm with the beeswax and were soon selling it in local shops like Raygun and Westside Storey. In 2017, the couple bought Erik’s mother’s four-acre property at 8301 Westridge Road in Raytown and converted it into their headquarters. It now includes a store, the Messner’s home, a production facility and about a million bees. Messner Bee Farm sells local raw honey, beeswax lip balm, candles, and other products. David Hudnall dhudnall@kcstar.com “Raytown is more of a destination — you come out, you can see the bees from a distance, you can talk to us about the process, you shop a little,” Rachael said. “Here (in Lee’s Summit), there’s so many people walking around downtown, shopping at other places. They’re discovering our brand for the first time.” Shop hours in Lee’s Summit are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.