Food & Drink

These stores are cooking

Independently owned kitchen shops move to the front burner in Georgetown, Lakeway and Wimberley

By Kitty Crider
AMERICAN-STATESMAN FOOD EDITOR
Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Faraday's Kitchen Store in Lakeway just celebrated its first-year anniversary and owner Tony Curtis-Wellings says with a big smile, "We don't owe a dime."

Business has been so good at the 4,000-square-foot store that he and his co-owner wife Melissa are looking to open a second store next year in a yet undisclosed location. Cookware sales nationwide average $38 a sale, says Curtis-Welling. At his store, which stocks about 5,000 items from high-end cookware to inexpensive silicone brushes, the average purchase is $65.

He says he looked at opening his first store near Whole Foods Market downtown. At the time, however, there was a rumor that Sur La Table was considering the same area, so he opted for RM 620 instead. His Lakeway location, where a building boom is under way, has proven to be a good one. Curtis-Welling, formerly a vice president for a Fortune 40 company, says that in the past year he has closed his store on more than two dozen occasions for private shopping sprees totaling thousands of dollars.

The store, named after his great-great-uncle Michael Faraday, who discovered electromagnetic induction, is not the only hot cookware store in Central Texas. From Georgetown to Wimberley, independent purveyors of all things kitchen related are feeding the foodie beasts among us.

Kiss the Cook, housed in an old 2,000-square-foot stone building on Wimberley Square, relocated from Abilene five years ago. Its success has made it possible for owners and best friends Janet Galloway and Bren Kirschbaum to open a second store this month in Boerne. "It's been fabulous," Kirschbaum says of their customer base, which is about 60/40 tourists and locals. Shoppers drop in for indestructible plastic glassware for vacation homes, the latest in pans and gadgetry, watermelon-shaped salt and pepper shakers and cookbooks including the Austin Junior League's 19-year-old "Necessities and Temptations," one of their best-sellers.

In Georgetown, Laurie Holland fired up her 1,650-square-foot Hollandaze Gourmet store in a shopping center on Williams Drive less than two years ago. Cooks from Sun City and Georgetown, even Killeen, Temple and Waco, shop there for stovetop smokers, gourmet foods and picturesque cutting boards. Though Holland is not planning a second store yet, she says simply, "I pay my rent."

Where independents reign

What is unique about these kitchen shops 30 to 40 minutes from Austin is that all three are chain-free. The owners work in the stores, know many of their customers by name, even take time to view their vacation photos, and can talk about food and cooking knowledgeably. They do demos and/or cooking classes. "We'll sing and dance for you if you want," jokes Holland. "You get personal service here."

And new recipes. Bill and Sue Everett, who have attended 25 cooking classes at Hollandaze Gourmet, are still talking about a stuffed tilapia recipe from one chef instructor.

"Cooking classes are entertainment for this town," Holland says.

Austin, on the other hand, no longer has an independent cookware-only store. While Breed & Co. and Zinger Hardware specialize in kitchenware, they also sell gardening items and hardware. Austin has many lifestyle stores such as Crate & Barrel and Bed Bath & Beyond, as well as department stores, that offer extensive kitchen equipment. Two Williams-Sonoma cookware stores, a California-based chain, are here. And Austin is getting a Sur La Table, an upscale cookware chain from Seattle, next spring at the new Domain shopping center at Braker Lane and MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1).

Independents have found all the in-city competition challenging.

In 1998, Butterfield's Stockpot, a popular Barton Creek Square kitchenware store known for its extensive gadgets collection and many Texana food items, closed. Longtime owner Stan Butterfield said many factors affected the decision. Although the store made money until the end, he said, overhead and taxes continued to skyrocket, hiring had gotten tougher, and it was getting more difficult to compete with stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond. "I think Austin is greatly over-retailed, especially in our category," he said.

Others might add that a decrease in home cooking and an increase in take-out food have fostered the demise of independent cookware stores in Austin. But all the independent cookware store owners interviewed in the surrounding area countered that the Food Network has had a great impact on increased sales, even among people who no longer cook. Kitchens are for entertaining now — not just serious cooking — and homeowners want smart, well-equipped rooms.

"Growing up, and still today, I believe the kitchen is where families and friends gather," says Holland in Georgetown. "There is such camaraderie in cooking, grilling, eating and drinking. . . . Cooking is coming back."

Shoppers feed gadget habit

Sometimes all it takes is a little inspiration. Cookware stores, known for their gadgetry, excel at that.

"Kitchen tools and gadgets generated more than $940 million in retail sales in 2005," according to Home World Business, a trade newspaper for the housewares industry.

Some gadgets are just old products in new materials and colors. Some are new inventions. Some are kitchen applications of other products.

Take the Microplane grater, which was based on a carpenter's rasp and has soared in sales for 10 years now. John Fritz of Gonzales had to have one. And after purchasing a Microplane at Kiss the Cook in Wimberley, he mastered making cheesecake with grated lemon zest.

"I love this store," said his wife, Dena, on their fourth visit in 10 days.

All of these stores had customers constantly during unannounced weekday interviews. People came in for special orders, to sign up for cooking classes, to purchase specific items, to browse or play with the gadgets. Rarely did they leave empty-handed. Everybody, it seems, needs a leakproof bottle stopper, a silicone basting brush or a stovetop smoker, whether they are cooking every day or not.

kcrider@statesman.com; 445-3656