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Kitchen to the Table has every need for your kitchen

June 21, 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

When you walk into to a beautiful store with genuinely friendly people, who know their products, where else would you shop? Combine this with a loyalty to your own small town and you have a business worth supporting. This is the formula that makes Kitchen to the Table the pleasure to visit and shop in, that it is. 

Sigrid Wolm came from the corporate world, from an office in Mississauga, did her research into retail, and in 1998, opened her shop, then called From the Kitchen to the Table. 

We were standing in front of her counter at the back of the shop, behind which is a large television set. She mentioned that, normally, there is a cooking show being aired but this was the day of the enormous Raptor Parade and it filled the screen while we talked.

“I thought my customers would rather see that too, since it is such a tremendous time,” she pointed out.

Opening the store in Orangeville in 1998 was truly a leap of faith. The town’s main street was suffering. As she puts it, “bedroom communities to the nearby cities had become just that: places to live and sleep.”

By the time people came back from their work in the cities, the shops on Broadway were closed for the day. In her history notes about her business, Ms. Wolm tells the reader, “The town was in desperate need for innovators to realize they needed to change their outlook to retailing to the new residents and the growing community.” 

She told the Citizen, “I was in the corporate world and decided I needed a change. I was married at the time and we had a house just outside Orangeville. I liked the downtown and my store was next to Moguls in Motion and near the liquor store. I loved the idea of a store with kitchen and dining merchandise because we love to cook and bake.

“We opened in 19998 and I joined the BIA right away.”

Originally from Germany, Ms. Wolm claimed, “I came to Canada to experience something different and then got stuck here because Canadians are so nice.

“So, I have no family here. My parents come for a few months every year but my sister and children are there. Still, my parents love visiting Ontario.”

Her early days with the new business were times of having to fill every role that retail requires. She knew very well “the professionalism and quality” she wanted to give her customers but there was also all the paper work, stock control, details of the interior of the store, like window display, staffing and, most importantly, customer service. 

In those early days of trying to make it all work, she relates in her notes, “I was one of the first new retailers in 1998. From the Kitchen to the Table became an “anchor store” for the revitalization of the main street. … I..got involved as a committee member … and later on the BIA Board.. With the support of the mayor and council, we worked hard to bring customers back to the main street of Orangeville.”

On October 1, 2015, she moved the store to the small strip mall at 163 First Street. Along with that move, she opted to revise her logo and even to alter the store name, shortened it to Kitchen to the Table, a more modern image, she considered.

The store now is vey bright with wide aisles to accommodate walkers, baby carriages – a conversation with someone you could meet. The range of goods is broad, good quality and very interesting.

Behind the same counter, at which we stood to do this interview, are also several pieces of kitchen equipment.

“We do some cooking here and show customers how things work. The coffee makers, the pressure cooker, the dehydrating oven…This is equipment that we sell, so we demonstrate it to the customer. Quality is number one but that doesn’t mean it has to cost the most.”

All her stock comes through Canadian sources. She goes to trade shows and has regular people with whom she deals.

“Customers are often asking for items not made in Asia. Some are almost impossible to find. Lots of our things are from France, cast iron, many things.

“Over the last 21 years, we have seen a trend in where it’s made. If I can get it from somewhere else and it’s not too expensive, I would rather buy it.”

She talked about how she felt toward her customers. “If you treat people like you want to be treated, they appreciate that. Some of my customers are like my family because we’ve been here many years. Everybody comes together. They want to learn something. Most times people like to talk, exchange recipes.

I have regulars who have shopped in my store for many years. I’ve got to know them. asked about their children, their families – how they’re doing, we have seen many through their good times. Sometimes, they just want a shoulder to lean on…”

Many retailers are competing with online shopping and the cost of shipping is part of the problem, free shipping versus amount spent. Online businesses are not necessarily helpful to brick and mortar stores.

Yet, Ms Wolm is sure of what is missing with online shopping: personalities. “We are very knowledgeable about our products here,” she said, referring to herself and the member of her staff we met at the time, Kristin Vettese. “There is time to enjoy shopping, touching and seeing the articles you’re thinking of purchasing, to be sure you get what you want,” instead of ordering it online, not liking it, having to send it back and try again.

If you stay away from stores, especially those that are operated by the person who owns them, “You lose the personal touch and attention,” she said.

The Kitchen to the Table store is beside Forage restaurant at 163 First Street. There is a website www.kitchentotable.com

Visiting is more fun – you will find things you never realized you need.

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