All animosity aside, the University of Missouri has enlisted the help of the University of Kansas to produce a joint retail store in Kansas City, Mo.

The store will consist of merchandise from the unions of both universities.

“They’ve invited us to be part of this,” said David Mucci, director of KU Memorial Unions. “They think we would be a good provider of KU merchandise.”

Missouri has worked on the deal and is currently drafting a proposal, said Sherry Pollard, Missouri’s director of student activity services.

Possible store locations are being researched, she said.

Missouri union officials are expected to have more financial plans by the next series of meetings, which are scheduled for March.

“We like the idea,” Mucci said. “We really want to see how we share costs and the answers to the other financial questions.”

The proposal will go to Tim Norris, director of the KU Bookstores. Organizers have found a possible venue for the new store, at 135th Sreet and State Line Road.

“We wanted to see what kind of lease they will have,” Norris said.

University officials agreed that the store will probably be located somewhere on the Missouri side because of the differences in rent and taxes, Norris said.

All money gained from the store will need to be divided, but all of the University’s profits will go back to students, Norris said.

The KU Memorial Corporation, which operates separately from the University, is the not-for-profit business that will spearhead the store. “The venture will be a non-profit,” Norris said. “So all money gained, after expenses are recouped, will go into the Student Union Activities fund or into maintenance on the unions.”

Both universities will benefit from the deal, Norris and Pollard said. The store will promote a healthy rivalry and give alumni on both sides of the border a place to buy merchandise from their alma mater.

Mucci said details of how the partnership will work need to be ironed out, but Norris, Mucci, and Pollard said the idea was favorable.

— Edited by John Scheirman