Ruby Korando   rubyk@thespree.com

    Born and raised in a small town in Missouri, I always looked forward to trips to Kansas City to go shopping with my parents and sisters. After high school, Kansas City was the obvious move, especially since my sisters already lived in Kansas City. I started my career at the Federal Reserve Bank in the Auditing Department. Now that I was employed and earning a regular paycheck, I was ready to hit the shopping malls on my own. Back then, clothing was my main shopping interest. At that time, Mission Shopping Center was one of my favorite shopping destinations. While working at the Federal Reserve Bank, I met my husband, Mike. After 6 years of marriage and two kids (Katie and Billy), we felt it was time for me to stay home and be a full-time mom. Now I have four people and a home to shop for!!! After eight more years and the kids are in school full time, it’s time for me to go back to work. The year is 1994.

  Mike Korando  mikek@thespree.com

    Born and raised in a different small town in Missouri, Mike didn’t look forward to going to Kansas City with his parents to go shopping. He felt his time was better spent playing football and baseball with his friends. Mike’s family relocated to Kansas City during his high school years because of a transfer in his dad’s job. After college, he began his career at the Federal Reserve Bank in the Public Affairs Department as a graphic designer. At this point he still did not like to shop, except for the hobby shops. He continued to work at the Federal Reserve Bank until 1997 when he decided to take early retirement.

    We had always talked about having our own business and decided now was the time. So, in 1994 we started Korando Graphics, Inc. We have had our own graphics business for over 11 years and have worked primarily with other companies in providing design and production of printed publications based on our customers needs.

    We have now merged my love for shopping and Mike’s graphic skills into this website. This website is an innovative concept in providing on-line directories of the shopping malls and the shops in those malls in the greater Kansas City area in one convenient location. Since Johnson County has had the fastest growth in population and with over 250 retail shopping developments, we decided this would be our starting point. For the past six months, we have concentrated our efforts into gathering and developing the information for this web site.

    We are very excited about launching our own website. We have future plans of expanding our site to include more information and expanding our content. We hope you find the information useful and that you will refer to this website often. Mike still doesn’t really like to shop - but has discovered some new hobby shops!!!