Gourmet Home

IHA Gourmet Home provides independent retailers, suppliers and manufacturers' representatives with tools and information to support the growth of the gourmet trade industry

Looking for Local

Local retailers seek local products. That’s the theme across the nation as specialty retailers, many of whom also find they benefit from customers looking to shop at local businesses, try to return the favor with nearby producers. “We always focus on finding local products,” says Dan Saklad, owner of, along with wife Diana, Whisk in Cary, N.C. “We are local, so we do…

Stats: How Housewares Fare in Home Trends

You know what is selling in your store, but do you know how home products are faring overall? Those smart folks at The NPD Group tallied up their data for last year and the results give a snapshot of the U.S. housewares economy. Here’s a look at what happened around the home in 2016. In the kitchen: Coffee/espresso is the biggest kitchen appliance category with…

Trends: Brick and Mortar Stands Up to Online

While a vast majority of Americans are now online shoppers, a new survey finds that those same customers also seek out brick-and-mortar stores. According to the survey from the Pew Research Center, some 8-in-10 Americans shop online, compared to a similar study done in June 2000 when just 22 percent of Americans had made a purchase online. Still, the study found that…

Retail Profile: Thyme in the Kitchen

Thyme in the Kitchen may be tucked into a historic, Westside neighborhood in Evansville, Ind., but the store pulls in visitors from all over, many of whom are on their way to cities like Nashville some two hours away. The reason? Eye-catching billboards posted along major highways around Evansville, which though a lovely place, is not typically thought of as a destination…

Retailers Apply Tips, Info Learned At International Home + Housewares Show

For many independent retailers, the International Home + Housewares Show last March wrapped up the trade show season and with it the chance to meet with vendors, hobnob with other store owners and view exciting product trends. Back at home, retailers are resetting displays, reviewing product assortments and reflecting on how interactions during the International Home +…

Recycling and Display Props

By Martin M. Pegler Props, I would imagine, is short for “properties” and “properties” can be anything that adds something to a scene, a setting, a display. If we were to look around us, we would see we are standing in the center of a field of display props: from the furniture in the room, the plants, the unused rolls of wallpaper, the tableware, the collection of pots and…

A Cut Above

The Chopping Block is Chicago's largest recreational cooking school and gourmet retail store, and yet so much more to so many people. From cooking demonstrations for newbies flexing their cooking wings to hands-on cooking classes where good home cooks can advance from their comfort zone, The Chopping Block is out to get everyone cooking confidently. And for those who love…

Retail Profile: The Kitchen Koop

Owner: Deon Foster Location: Portsmouth, Va. Founded: 1998 What is special about The Kitchen Koop? The retailer’s customers say it is the store’s service and great selection of cookware. They come in and stay a while, enjoying the Southern hospitality. “Dropped in with my spouse after a lunch date just to look around,” writes one customer. “We spent a lovely hour or so…

Trends: Gift Giving – It’s the Thought That Counts

From wedding registries to gift baskets, gifting gives back to kitchenware and housewares retailers all year long. The tradition of giving other people presents drives sales during the all-important fourth quarter and retailers spend their year plotting a strategy to stock and merchandise the products that their customers will want to give to others. But what makes a good…