Jama Imports

Jama Imports is a Somali-owned import shop on the corner of Prospect Avenue in Kansas City’s Independence Plaza neighborhood, selling women’s clothing, perfume, rugs and home goods sourced from around the world.

Description

Jama Imports occupies a corner storefront at 621 Prospect Avenue in the Independence Plaza neighborhood of Kansas City’s Historic Northeast, a short walk south of the Independence Avenue commercial corridor.¹ The business was previously located on Lexington Avenue in the Pendleton Heights neighborhood before moving to Prospect.¹

The Northeast News describes it as “an everything store of sorts,” with stock running from women’s clothing and perfume to home decor including rugs, carpets and curtains.¹ An earlier Northeast News profile lists women’s clothing, fragrances, home decor and furniture.² As the name suggests, goods are imported; the Northeast News reported destinations of origin including Turkey, Spain, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Italy, attributing the sourcing detail to the trade-data platform ImportYeti.¹

Owner Muhubo Jama works the store mainly alone. Jama Imports has no employees outside the family; her brother and her husband help run it.¹ Her brother told the Northeast News in 2020 that the family had grown attached to the neighborhood through the daily work: “From working here every day, we know a lot of people.”²

When Jama first took the space it had previously housed a restaurant, with low ceilings and dim light; she has spent years reworking it to brighten the interior.²

Ownership and history

Muhubo Jama owns and operates the business. She is originally from Somalia and left the country as a small child; she has lived in Northeast Kansas City for more than three decades, as both a resident and a business owner.¹ A 2020 Northeast News profile gives her arrival in Kansas City from East Africa as 1993.²

Before opening her own store she worked as a housekeeper at the Downtown Kansas City Marriott Hotel and bought into and worked for a candle company.¹ She launched Jama Imports in 2003 with help from her brother, sister and husband.¹² Both her mother and father owned family businesses in Somalia, which she worked in as a girl.¹

Jama has described self-employment in terms of autonomy rather than scale: “I love it; you enjoy the life, no one bothers you when you own your own business… If I want to visit someone, I can just close the door.”¹

Links

• Website: “ — no first-party website or social account located.

Services

Confirmed offerings, from Northeast News reporting:

• Women’s clothing and dresses¹²
• Perfume and fragrances¹²
• Rugs and carpets¹²
• Curtains¹²
• Home decor and furniture¹²

Merchandise is imported; reported countries of origin include Turkey, Spain, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Italy.¹

Sources

Footnotes

1. “Somali Native Carries on Family’s Business Tradition with Independence Plaza’s ‘Jama Imports’,” Northeast News, February 21, 2025. URL ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

2. “Highlighting our International Marketplace,” Northeast News, February 5, 2020. URL ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰