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RETAILER PROFILE www.kitchenwarenews.com n SEPTEMBER 2018 n KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW 1 5 Retailer Profile Relish Kitchen Store Brings Home To Downtown Sheboygan BY GREG GONZALES Just a stone's throw f rom Lake Michigan, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a mother- daughter duo runs Relish Kitchen Store, a destination for every home cook f rom Milwaukee to Green Bay. Relish has gained a reputation as a place for home cooks to come and play, and a place to find kitchenware that can last generations. The pair, Jane Davis-Wood and Sara Woosencraft, were looking to go into business for themselves rather than work under anyone else, and created their dream jobs in 2013. "Both my mom and I were in a place where we wanted to do our own thing and be our own boss," Woosencraft said. "We had both worked in retail our entire careers – my mom was a store manager for department stores and big box stores, and I worked in corporate retail my entire career – and we did it! We thought hard on what products we're interested in, what industry has a good trajector y, and housewares and kitchenwares spoke to us. It's something we both really love; we both love to cook, we both love kitchen gadgets, so we opened the business." Walking into the store, on the main drag in downtown Sheboygan, local shoppers and visitors to the theater across the street who mosey on by are treated to a make- yourself-at-home experience. A pink flag flying under the tree out f ront lets ever yone know Relish is open for business. In July, flowers and American flags frame the entrance; in December, holiday lights shine f rom the window display. Each display tells a story, whether it's about the bridal registry or a cookware launch. And though there's a second floor that houses the offices of an attorney and an accountant, the store's ceilings are high, but the product is kept low so each product area gets individual attention. "We walk customers through with different cookware brands, for example, and we have a whole summer pies story set up right now for the bakers – and we have a path in the store we want customers to follow," explained Woosencraft. "It stops to see trendier things for the season, then there's a trip to our gadgets corner – and all paths lead to the kitchen, to see what's going on back there. It's one big loop." Bakeware pieces, towels and fundamental gadgets go in the back; that way, people know where they are and can easily find them, but they also get to see the fresh, new, exciting items. Woosencraft explained that she aims for one theme: the gifted kitchen. One side of the store is more of a gift location, and the other is for fundamental cooking tools. "We are for the home cook," she said. "For example, our kitchen isn't commercial; we have a kitchen that you would find in your home. We aren't looking to train people to be professional chefs – there are schools for that, technical colleges for that – what we're doing is helping the home chef become more confident in their abilities and give them the tools they need both education-wise and tool-wise to be more confident in the kitchen. Every area of our store feels personal and homey, as opposed to feeling industrial." Along with its location, Woosencraft attributed some of Relish's success to her and Davis-Wood's previous experience. "We've been able to translate what we've learned f rom our previous work into building a store that our customers really enjoy," she said. " We know how to merchandise, we know how to have a conversation with a customer and how to speak their language, to help them figure out what they're really looking for." One of the store's features that brings the customers in and coming back is the kitchen, which they added in mid-2017 to provide cooking classes, a space for bachelorette parties and bridal showers, corporate team- building events and more. Sometimes teachers come to the kitchen for Relish's Healthy eating class, which saves teachers money on their insurance premiums. "We always have something going on in the kitchen, whether we're demonstrating some of our food products – we sell Stonewall Kitchen and a lot of local items – so we get something back there and customers in the kitchen to see how cool it is in there, and maybe get them interested in a class," Woosencraft said. "We've set up a gadget bars before, where we put a bunch of cutting boards out with a gadget and say to go on in and play. You're here shopping, so test out the things we love! We might put a lemon squeezer back there, a cheese knife, the Garlic Twister, any kind of gadget where they can do it themselves." On top of that, just about any item in the store is available to try out right there in the kitchen. "We try to make sure if a customer is interested in an item that we have the ability and opportunity to have them play with it, to engage with, touch and feel it to try it out. One of the favorite gadgets in the store is the Garlic Twister, a small hand tool for mincing garlic or ginger, and customers are curious about it; they want to know if the buzz is real or if it's just something we're trying to sell them. So we take them back into the kitchen, give them a clove of garlic and let them try it out. More often than not, what they try is what they're looking for. So it's kind of awesome to see someone on the fence thinking about something and give them the opportunity to actually try it and feel good about their purchase." The store won the Sheboygan County Retailer of the Year Award f rom the county's Chamber of Commerce in Februar y, and for good reason – Woosencraft says that, on a regular basis, bigger stores send customers to Relish when they can't provide what her store offers. "What makes us different f rom a Bed Bath & Beyond, let's say, or Walmart, is that we provide a more customized service," said Woosencraft. "We know our customers; they come and visit us on the regular, we know about their lives, we know what purchases they've made before and can have a conversation with them about how those tools are working ― and if something new is coming out we can give them a heads up. We can make the experience more personal. There's a benefit to being a small, independent store." Without a big corporate machine behind their marketing, Woosencraft and Davis- Wood stick to networking and local advertising to get the word out. " We have a pretty active social media presence where we work hard to engage with our customers and make sure we're having a conversation with them, and that they hear back f rom us if they send a question," Woosencraft said. "We also work closely with our Chamber of Commerce to make sure that tourists and visitors, and new folks in town, are able to come in. We've worked with our local realtors to capture new folks to town, and some of our real estate agents in town work with us to provide their welcome gifts, like custom cutting boards and wine glasses, or whatever they want to give to their new clients." Customers choose Relish over the bigger stores when they want a quality product, rather than something that'll have to be replaced in a couple years. Because of that, Woosencraft explained, the store gets very few returns – which surprises her and Davis-Wood, "because we come f rom bigger retailers, where returns are the name of the game, and expected. If you want a $14.99 pan, you can get that from Walmart here in town, but that's not what you're going to find at Relish. At Relish, you're going to find a pan that might be a little bit of an investment, a little more than you're used to spending, but it's something that can last your entire life. You can pass it on to your kids because you took care of it, because you used the right tools, because we helped you learn what to do to make it last." KN (cont. from Page 1) "We aren't looking to train people to be professional chefs – there are schools for that, technical colleges for that – what we're doing is helping the home chef become more confident in their abilities and give them the tools they need both education-wise and tool-wise to be more confident in the kitchen." - Sara Woosencraft

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