Gilbert, Whitney & Co.

Gilbert, Whitney & Co. is a gourmet specialty-grocery and kitchenware “corner grocery” at 104 N Liberty St on Independence Square, operated by McClain Enterprises (Ken & Cindy McClain).¹² It splits its floor between specialty foods (cheeses, jams, coffee, spices, fresh and frozen goods, local meats) and quality kitchenware (Wüsthof, Nordic Ware, Vita Craft), reviving a corner-grocery concept the McClains trace to an 1833 Independence shop.¹

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Description

Gilbert, Whitney & Co. is a specialty grocery and kitchenware shop on the corner of Liberty and Lexington on Independence Square. Its floor is divided between a grocery side — specialty and pantry items (cheeses, jams, coffee, tea, spices), a frozen section, dairy, dry goods, cold beverages, and fresh meats from local L & C Meats — and a kitchenware side carrying brands such as Wüsthof, Nordic Ware, and Vita Craft.¹ The McClains present it as a revived “corner grocery,” a nod to an original Gilbert & Whitney shop they place at Liberty and Lexington in 1833, and have steered it toward more fresh, everyday food alongside the gift-oriented specialty goods.¹ (It is a grocery/kitchenware store — not a winery.)

Gilbert, Whitney & Co. sits within the McClain Enterprises portfolio on Independence Square. Its own “About Us” is authored by Cindy McClain, and its site cross-links the group’s other Square businesses, placing it alongside the McClains’ restaurants, cinema, and retail shops.¹²

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Ownership and history

Ownership

Period	Owner / Operator	Notes
1832–1833 (historical)	original Gilbert, Whitney & Co. (“the Lord’s Storehouse”)	Operated for the early Mormon settlement; moved to a brick building at the NW corner of Lexington & Liberty in Nov 1832; the store was destroyed by a mob in July 1833.13
mid-2000s (current)	McClain Restaurant Group (Ken & Cindy McClain)	McClains bought the building and restored the store to its original appearance; a Nov 2003 news article documented the restoration.123

The McClains began revitalizing the Independence Square in 1998, starting with the former Katz Pharmacy building (now Ophelia’s), and grew the effort to roughly 15–18 businesses (“18 and counting”).² Cindy McClain, who grew up in Boulder, CO, is president of McClain Restaurant Group; the couple have family and church ties to Independence rather than being born-and-raised.² They reopened the store at its original Lexington-and-Liberty location in the mid-2000s — a November 2003 newspaper article documented the restoration, and the Restoration Bookstore’s account frames it as “back in business” 173 years after the 1833 original.³ The precise reopening year is not pinned down in retrieved sources —.

Sibling McClain Square properties include clintons-soda-fountain, cafe-verona, square-pizza, up-dog, el-pico, courthouse-exchange, ophelias-restaurant-inn, main-street-coffee-house, and the parent mcclain-enterprises.

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Offerings

Specialty grocery + kitchenware.¹

• Specialty grocery: cheeses, jams, coffee, tea, spices, pantry/dry goods¹
• Fresh & frozen: dairy, cold beverages, frozen section, fresh meats from local L & C Meats¹
• Kitchenware: Wüsthof, Nordic Ware, Vita Craft, and other cookware/gadget brands¹
• Gifts: specialty-food gift items¹

Shop online / details: gilbertwhitney.com

Links

• Official site: https://gilbertwhitney.com/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/gilbert-whitney-and-company-independence

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Sources

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Disputes

Minor: Sunday hours differ between the official site (12–6pm) and a Yelp listing (closed). Flagged.

Footnotes

1. Gilbert, Whitney & Co. — official website (“Welcome to Gilbert Whitney & Co” / About Us). https://gilbertwhitney.com/pages/welcome-to-gilbert-whitney-co — Confirms: name; 104 N Liberty St, Independence, MO 64050; phone (816) 836-0567; hours Mon–Sat 10am–6pm (Sun listed 12–6pm); half specialty grocery / half kitchenware concept traced to an 1833 Liberty-and-Lexington shop; brands Wüsthof, Nordic Ware, Vita Craft; fresh meats from L & C Meats; owners Ken & Cindy McClain; About Us authored by Cindy McClain; cross-links to other McClain Square businesses. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

2. The Independent / KC Independent — “Palatable Pursuits: Trailblazer Cindy McClain.” https://kcindependent.com/palatable-pursuits-trailblazer-cindy-mcclain/ — Confirms: Cindy McClain is president of McClain Restaurant Group; McClains began Square revitalization in 1998 and grew it to 18+ businesses; Boulder/family-and-church-ties background. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. Restoration Bookstore — “The Historic Gilbert and Whitney Store Restored.” https://restorationbookstore.org/pages/the-historic-gilbert-and-whitney-store-restored — Confirms: original 1832–1833 history (Gilbert, Whitney & Co. / “the Lord’s Storehouse,” early Mormon settlement; moved to a brick building at NW corner of Lexington & Liberty in Nov 1832; store destroyed by a mob in July 1833); McClains bought the building and restored it to its original appearance from an old photograph, turning it into a cookware and specialty-grocery store; references a November 2003 newspaper article on the restoration; describes the store as “back in business” 173 years after the original. ↩ ↩² ↩³