Leave it to Joyce Smith to have her finger on the latest retail trends and happenings.

Her Jocoscape column today (Page 15) is about a new store called the Thirsty Palette in Overland Park. They offer fun — read: there’s wine involved — painting parties for adults and kids (no wine for them, though).

One of the hardest-working, most plugged-in people I know, Joyce is a treasure trove of information about retail news. Trader Joe’s is coming to Joco? She broke the news. Your favorite restaurant is moving? Joyce is on it. She compiles the restaurant inspection reports, too, an all-important service for anyone who eats out. Germ- and roach-averse readers follow her especially closely.

She’s one of our most prolific reporters. In addition to writing for 913, she writes a column every Tuesday and Friday for the business section of the daily Star and regularly breaks Page One stories. And she tweets and posts on Facebook. As I write, she has broken the news that Hibachi and Brooks Brothers on the Country Club Plaza are closing. Follow her @JoyceKC.

I don’t know how many conversations I’ve had where someone has excitedly recounted how they read that so-and-so store is coming to KC. No doubt, what they read was bylined by Joyce Smith.