Kitchenware Outfitters: The Place Where Everybody Knows Your Name

How does a kitchenware store go from being just another retail shop to the place where everybody knows your name? For Kitchenware Outfitters in Savannah, Georgia, it involves a decade-long presence of quality products, with the exceptional customer service to back it up. It certainly doesn’t hurt to offer cooking classes, in-store food demos, free soup, charity knife sharpening events, cookouts, a quarterly newsletter and an active social media presence.

When husband and wife David and Barbara Freeman discovered they were going to be a part of corporate reorganizations, they looked for a business opportunity that would allow them to remain in Savannah. David hoped for an ice cream shop, but Barbara thought about her waistline and thought it might be better to use her experience as the chief financial officer for Le Creuset. David came from the world of corporate sales, but a retail kitchenware store was a definite transition for both of them.

At Barbara’s behest, David got a job at Home Depot to see if retail would be a good fit, and they began to work on their business plan. Barbara took care of the financial portion, and David used his degree in public relations and advertising to work on the marketing.

Kitchenware Outfitters opened in March 2004, about six months after the Freemans began exploring their venture. The initial five-year goal was exceeded within the first two years. Three years after opening, the store had doubled in size, expanding from 2,000 square feet to 4,000 in 2007. In 2011, another 300 square feet were added.

Located in the Twelve Oaks Shopping Center in midtown Savannah, the store sees a wide range of local customers. From the very beginning, Barbara and David sought to achieve a welcoming atmosphere where any customer could shop and find quality products – no matter their budget.

“When we were first writing up the business plan for our store, one of the things my husband thought about was the TV series ‘Cheers,’” says Barbara. “We wanted that sort of atmosphere in our store, where people would walk in and be greeted and feel good about being there. We’re always trying to come up with different ideas that are going to make people feel good about being in the store.”

The Freemans looked at larger national kitchenware retailers like Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table for inspiration, taking away from Williams-Sonoma the need for high-end products. From Sur La Table they adopted the “everyone-is-welcome” environment, along with a variety of price points.

“We wanted to make sure that everyone felt comfortable shopping with us. People who have trophy kitchens that want to have the best of the best and people that cannot afford to spend as much on their kitchens are equally important to us,” says Barbara. “We want to be able to serve all our customers, no matter what their budget, and provide them what they need for their kitchens. We try to select the best products at each price point, so regardless of what you’re able to spend on your kitchen, you know you’re getting the best value for your money.”

Another important step along the way to establishing Kitchenware Outfitters was a trip to Dallas for the Total Home & Gift Market in January, just before the store was to open. It was there that David met the late Joel McLendon through their Gourmet Catalog membership. As the founder of The McLendon Company, Joel helped more than 500 people open their own retail businesses since the 1950s.

“He was like the grandfather of kitchenware specialty gourmet stores, and he would take new retailers – or new want-to-be retailers – and take them through the whole process of what you need in terms of flat wall, cash wrap materials – just those basic items that you don’t think about. You get excited about the inventory and what you can sell, but you don’t think about the structure that has to sit underneath that, and Joel had that down to a science,” says Barbara. “He helped us build the very structure of our store and had some very good core vendors that he represented. We gradually learned all the other sales reps in the industry and the vendors that they represented, and we were able to branch out from that.”

When envisioning the store, Barbara also took away expert advice from her days at Le Creuset. She recalled that the president of the company at the time had advised her that in his experience working with retailers, those who offered in-store cooking classes tended to have better business, because the classes are an excellent way to showcase products. Kitchenware Outfitters has a kitchen area where classes are offered every week. Local restaurant chefs, caterers, cookbook authors and professional cooking instructors teach the classes on a variety of subjects, from specific skills like braising to general topics like making an Italian dinner.

“They’re using this fabulous cookware, and they may or may not have it in their home, but they can definitely see the difference once they’re using it in front of the customers, and most of the time they’re commenting on the cookware,” Barbara says of the instructors. “They can talk about how well a product is performing, or how it enhances what you’re doing or makes it easier. We sell a lot of products through our cooking classes because people see them in action.”

Cooking classes aren’t the only way Kitchenware Outfitters is allowing customers to see products in action. The store offers complimentary Soup Wednesdays, held during the first three weeks of December. What began as a way to make customers feel good about being in the store during the busy holiday season has also become an opportunity to showcase a variety of products. Soup is made in stockpots, which are sold in the store: possibly All-Clad, Le Creuset or Swiss Diamond. Customers are offered sparkling water made with a SodaStream or regular tap water filtered with a Mavea water filter. Bread is made from scratch with an Emile Henry bread cloche and a Zojirushi bread machine, and butter is provided in a Butter Bell Crock.

Because Savannah weather is suitable for nearly year-round barbecues, cookouts are regularly held at Kitchenware Outfitters, prominently featuring the Big Green Egg. David typically takes the helm at these free events, spotlighting the barbecue tools and accessories which make up about 20 percent of Kitchenware Outfitters’ sales. Gadgets are the other top seller for the store, comprising about 18 percent of sales.

“People want tools that are very functional, and they definitely want them to work as they’re touted to work,” says Barbara. “The Garlic Twist we’ve been selling now for years, and to me that’s a great little gadget because it really does a wonderful job with the garlic. Garlic is something that can be extremely messy to deal with. You can chop it with a knife, but it’s not easy because it’s so sticky – there’s a case where a gadget that has a single purpose is really, really effective.”

The heart of the Kitchenware Outfitters philosophy is having quality products that truly work and leave the customer satisfied, along with providing customer service that ensures satisfaction. In addition to six employees, Barbara and David work full time at the store, taking a very hands-on approach to their mission. It’s not enough to simply sell a customer a product, they say. That customer must also walk away knowing how to get the most use out of that product.

“We try to train our staff to really talk with the customer to find out what it is they need. A lot of times when customers come into a store – any store – they have an idea what they need, but they may have not thought through all of it and may not understand the products that are out there that could fulfill their need,” says Barbara. “We like for our employees to really talk with the customer to make sure what it is they’re getting is indeed what they need, and then making sure they have everything they need to make that product work effectively.”

Barbara uses the example of a knife. Along with that knife, the customer needs to know how to properly clean it, how to store it and what surfaces to use it on in order to achieve a lifetime of use. The Kitchenware Outfitters approach is closer to neighborly advice than high-pressure sales.

Driving this point home are the quarterly knife sharpening events held at the store from which the proceeds are donated to charity. In the past, charities such as Meals On Wheels and Ronald McDonald House have been recipients. Donations have also benefited the culinary program at a local technical school. Most recently, proceeds went to the Wounded Warrior Project.

“We’re always trying to do something to give back to the community,” says Barbara. “We all live here, we all work here, and we need to be responsible.”

This story was originally published in the February 2015 issue of Kitchenware News, a publication of Oser Communications Group.