Lee’s Summit small businesses report best quarter since 2019

Lee's Summit small businesses reported their strongest quarter of sales since 2019, according to a new survey from the local chamber of commerce released this week.

Of the 312 independent businesses that responded, 64 percent reported year-over-year revenue growth and 41 percent said they had added at least one employee in the past three months — both the highest readings the chamber has tracked since the pandemic.

Chamber officials credited a combination of steady downtown foot traffic, a wave of recent residential development on the city's south side, and a deliberate Shop Lee's Summit campaign that ran through the spring.

Restaurants and personal services posted the largest gains, while a few specialty retailers said they remain cautious about back-half-of-year inventory commitments amid broader consumer uncertainty.

The chamber plans to release a full small-business outlook report next month, including benchmarks against comparable suburbs across the Kansas City metro.