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RETAILER PROFILE www.kitchenwarenews.com n JULY 2016 n KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW 1 1 The Happy Cook Puts Smiles on Charlottesville Faces integrated into our POS…. We needed to make sure our prices were instantaneously changed on the website; that just helps everything run smoothly for internet transactions. We didn't want people to have some reser vation about recommending us to a f riend because they thought the shopping process wouldn't be easy," says Moshier. "There's a few things we import that aren't widely available, so we get some good traction f rom that. In this market you can't really plan to do your website on All- Clad and Le Creuset, because all the big guys are doing that." Moshier first became involved with The Happy Cook as a college student. The owner was looking for a change, and sold the business to Moshier in 2005. "I could see working there how many improvements could be made, ways to make simple changes that would take it to the next level," Moshier says. The Happy Cook moved to a nearby new location in 2009, nearly quadrupling the size of the store. " We moved across the crosswalk, we're at about 4,000 square feet with offices and everything. We were able to increase our offerings and product. That was really what my goal was: it went f rom being a cute and fun place with robust offerings for the size but people didn't think of it as a serious kitchen shop." Moshier made the move an opportunity to match the store's style to the city of Charlottesville. "In our store, one of the big things we focus on is representing the Charlottesville aesthetic. A lot of stores are a little more utilitarian look. Our store has bright colors and custom features. We want it to feel like a home, so customers can imagine it being in their home," says Moshier. "We're technically in the South, but I don't think of us as a ver y southern community. There's a lot of history here; we took some influences into a French kind of influence, because Thomas Jefferson was a Francophile. That 's wormed its way into the Charlottesville style." As part of her changes, Moshier started to take advantage of the local social climate. Charlottesville benefits both f rom a strong preference for local foods and products and a steady stream of tourists visiting Virginia's wine country. Retailer Profile (cont. from Page 1) Kaune's Neighborhood Market: Balancing Specialty Foods and Staples in Historical Santa Fe Anyone who wants to learn how to balance specialty foods or prepared foods and staples under one roof should visit with Cheryl Pick Sommer, owner of Kaune's Neighborhood Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She could write a book on the subject. Kaune's (pronounced KAH nees) sits across the street f rom the New Mexico state Capitol. The 7,500 square foot interior features wide aisles, wooden displays and soft lighting. "Three years ago, we decided to remodel and we closed the store," Pick Sommer says. "O ur plan was to close for three weeks and remodel the interior completely. We ended up closing for five weeks. We opened back up hoping customers would remember us and show up." Sommer undertook the renovation to optimize her usable space for new prepared food and expanded fine food sections. The new floor plan balanced specialty foods, prepared food and everyday staples in way she thought would appeal to her broad range of customers and produce new revenue and profits to spur growth. "We wanted to grow our prepared foods. And we created what we call the 'Neighborhood Chop' as part of that," she says. "It 's a ser vice chopped salad bar. The customer walks up to the bar, picks out their lettuce, plus five or six ingredients, we put it in a bowl for them and off they go. It's been a big success." Sommer also expanded sandwich making, added rotisserie chickens, and enlarged the cheese, wine, beer and spirits sections. " We're about 45 percent basic groceries, and about 55 percent specialty items," she says. "The fine cheese department is nicely profitable, as well as wine and specialty grocery. In the world of Total Wine and other large competitors, and people ordering on-line, you still have to be competitive on pricing for wine." Customers can choose f rom almost 200 wine SKUs, f rom a Calina Chardonnay f rom Chile for $8.99, to a Vilmart & Cie Grand Premier Cru Champagne for $85.00. The cheese selection includes everything from a domestic pepper jack for $6.99 a pound to a Cashel Irish Blue Cheese for $20.99 a pound. In specialty foods, a shopper can select f rom a Rising Moon Butternut Squash Ravioli for $5.59 or Urbani Tartufi Summer Truffles for $84.00 for seven ounces."We try to remain competitively priced on grocery staples, on things you can find everywhere," Sommer says. " We work hard to find items the other stores aren't carrying, so we have a niche through our product offering, as well as the service we offer f rom our staff." Sommer travels New Mexico back roads to find growers and producers who can provide the best local products. The cheese section includes chevre made at a nearby Santa Fe ranch. The produce area features fresh herbs, including dill, mint and thyme f rom an area farm. And in condiments, she offers a green chile flavored ketchup called Hatchup Katchup. In terms of sales and growth, Sommer is projecting an increase of eight to 10 percent for 2016, with that same rate of growth continuing for the next five years as well. "Yes, I think it's doable, and we're working at it," she says. Kaune's decades of ser vice to the community inspired the 2016 Award for Best Grocer/Retailer given by Edible Santa Fe magazine readers. "Cheryl has been a pillar in the Santa Fe grocery scene for many years," Stephanie Cameron, Edible's Publisher says. "She has elevated Kaune's to a comfortable, upscale market that offers the basics, as well as new and unusual food products." KN "Monticello, Jefferson's home, is nearby. We do get a lot of tourism in general, for people doing wine tours, as well as the history and the university," says Moshier. "Really great wine too. Around here locally they refer to Napa getting recognition from the French wines, and that 's what 's happening for us now. We've been at the housewares show and gone to restaurants and seen wines on the shelf f rom here." Local chefs, who often shop at The Happy Cook, are offered the chance to cook at store events. "We find it to be a great mix, people love to be taught by a chef whose restaurant they f requent. 80 percent of the classes we offer are taught by local chefs," says Moshier. "A lot of these chefs, they own the restaurant. A lot of times they ' ll do it so they can plug their restaurant as well. They like it too; they make some money doing it, and they get real close to someone who hasn't been to the restaurant already." KN

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