specialty retailers

Retail Profile: The Pot Rack

Location: Leavenworth, Kan. Founded: 2008 Owners: Ollie and Kathryn West Square Footage: 3,500 sq. ft. Own or Rent: Own After careers in the military and then second careers in the corporate world, Ollie and Kathryn West “retired” into a third career in retail. The pair opened The Pot Rack on the main drag of Leavenworth, Kan., a historic town they both call home, in…

Retail Class of 2018

Independent gourmet retailers opening a store or getting through their first full 12 months of business in 2018 benefitted from a relatively upbeat economy (albeit a tight labor market), but still faced the ins and outs of product assortment, merchandising and marketing that vex all new stores. How did they fare? We talked with three retailers about the joys and challenges…

Retail Profile: Grand Fête

Retail Profile: Grand Fête Location: Hudson, Wis. Founded: May 2017 Co-owners: Kay Timm, Jane Wegand and Lynn Ulrich Square Footage: 1,800 sq. ft. Rent or Own: Rent The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes a grande fête as a way “to honor something with a large party or public celebration” and that’s the mood the trio of owners of the Grand Fête in Hudson seek to set…

Small Business Saturday – Business as Usual?

If you are an independent gourmet retailer your store was probably going to be open Saturday, Nov. 24 anyway. But did the fact that the date was Small Business Saturday help your business? “While we are looking forward to a strong, successful Christmas season, we didn’t do well during Small Business Saturday,” says Hannalore Holland, owner of Somethin’s Cookin’ in Panama…

Retail Profile: Somethin’s Cookin’

Location: Panama City, Fla. Owner: Hannalore Holland Founded: 1972 --This is the store’s third location. Square footage: 3,000 sq. ft. Rent or Own: Own When Hurricane Michael tore up Panama City, Fla., packing winds of 155 miles per hour this past October, Hannalore Holland dug into her supply of perishables and fed the first responders. Holland, whose store…

Deck The Stores

The holidays are nearly upon us and retailers are busy building festive decorations into their merchandising strategies. Are they having fun yet? Liana Ottaviani, GM of Fante’s Kitchen Shop in Philadelphia, is. She says she loves this time of year, but admits “It is crazy, but as fun as it can be.” Part of that fun is seeing old friends. “We have wonderful customers, but…

Retail Profile: Fante’s Kitchen Shop

Location: Philadelphia’s 9th St. Italian Market Founded: 1906 Owners: Mariella Giovannucci Esposito, Nick Giovannucci, Daniele Giovannucci Square footage: 4,000 sq. ft. Own or Rent: Rent A Philadelphia institution since 1906, Fante’s remains a family-run business as owner Mariella Esposito handed off control of the highly-regarded kitchenware store to her daughter, Liana…

Retail Profile: Now You’re Cooking

Retailer: Now You're Cooking Location: Bath, Maine Founded: 2000 Owners: Mike and Betsy Fear Square footage: 3,000 sq ft Rent or own: Rent When Mike and Betsy Fear first started thinking about opening a kitchenware store in this historic coastal Maine city, they sat down with the late kitchenware guru Bob Coviello, the founder of the H.T.I. Buying Group, at Coviello’s…