About Us
In 1989, Peg and Tim Liebert plunged into the gift business with a small mail order gift box catalog focusing on Kansas regional foods and crafts. Having grown up in Kansas and attending the University of Kansas, they had a strong sense of regionalism and state pride and felt that there were other people with the same passionate feelings for their state and local vendors. After a year of trade shows, catalog orders and open houses in their home in Overland Park, KS, the first Kansas Sampler was opened at 95th and Antioch. The original store was 1,500 square feet of BBQ sauce, gift baskets, sunflower crafts and Wizard of Oz memorabilia. From the beginning, the company was focused on satisfying customers, knowing that word of mouth advertising was the only kind of advertising that fit in the budget. But it was listening and serving their customers that ultimately allowed Kansas Sampler to evolve into the company it is today.
Over twenty years, Kansas Sampler grew from a mail order gift box business to a statewide retail chain primarily focusing on lcoal collegiate and professional sports merchandise. in 2009, the company opened three new stores called Rally House. Rally House is essentially a Kansas Sampler store...not in Kansas. Rally House stores offer the same passionate customer service and high energy environment as a Kansas Sampler except they focus the merchandise on the local teams in the region.
Rally House Texas stores offer a selection of college merchandise including Texas Longhorns, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Texas A&M Aggies, Baylor Bears, TCU Horned Frogs, SMU Mustangs and even Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arkansas and LSU. With four locations in DFW, the Rally House Texas stores obviously carry Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars.
The company has now opened two Rally House KC stores on the Missouri side of Kansas City, one at the Country Club Plaza and the other at Independence Center. These stores carry much of the same product as their sister Kansas Sampler stores except with much more focus on Missouri Tigers as well as the other colleges in Missouri.
Even though Kansas Sampler and Rally House have the largest selection of team merchandise in their markets, the stores are not fan shops. They are much more than that. They are made up of people who really, truly want to help their customers find the perfect gift or the perfect outfit for gameday. Kansas Sampler and Rally House are still the same local gift store as when we started. We listen to our customers and are truly thankful when they visit our store whether it is the first time or the hundredth time.
