Taking Stock of Stock Culinary Goods

By Micah Cheek

These days, it’s tough to get Jan Faust Dane on the phone. The owner of Stock Culinary Goods in Providence, Rhode Island, had to frequently pause our interview to chase down and chat with familiar faces coming in to the store. More than once, she had to break away, saying, “Do you mind if I put down the phone for a second? I don’t want my back turned to these people.” The store, which settled in with a number of other small stores in a retail district, is frequented by restaurant staff, culinary students and a strong population of home cooks. “Your home cooking game in Providence had better be good, these people do not mess around. That’s our food culture – If they have something amazing at North, they may want to try something similar at home,” says Dane.” Providence has a really educated food community, so we see a lot of people who understand and want to purchase long-lasting, quality items and, you know, care where things come from.”

Stock has been open since late 2012, following a radical change in Dane’s life. After a career of freelance writing that led to restaurant guidebooks, Dane had found herself working at Ocean House, a five-star chateau and resort. “I was food forager, and director of culinary education. My commute was more than an hour every day, and I would pass by this empty space. We had a catch-all gift store, but we didn’t have a dedicated place[for kitchenware].” The empty storefront eventually started calling to her, and she considered filling the space in the market for a kitchenware retailer. ” Finally I said, ‘I guess I’ll have to do it.’ With zero retail experience, I thought, This must be easy! That was four years ago.”

Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t easy. “Oh my god, I was so underqualified and undercapitalized,” said Dane. “I didn’t know there were reps; I didn’t know there were [trade]shows.” One of the first lessons she learned was striking a balance between artisan products and practical everyday purchases. “We have super-talented ceramicists and woodworkers and glassblowers. Rhode

Island School of Design is two miles from where I’m standing – all those people learn incredible skills.… When I opened, I did have a more curated approach to these things. But you learn quickly you can’t hold that line. Stainless steel, silicone, many linens are from overseas,” says Dane. “If you’re truly a kitchen store and someone wants a whisk, they don’t want a bespoke handcrafted whisk by a third-generation Appalachian woodworker, they want a damn whisk.”

With some readjustment, Stock Culinary Goods began to find harmony with both popular brands and the Rhode Island area’s rich artistic community. “A lot of our best items are from Rhode Island or the surrounding area. Wooden presentation boards, cast iron bottle openers in the shape of horseshoe crabs are best sellers. We have a candle made on Cape Cod that people are crazy for. Amidst all that we sell Le Creuset and Staub and WÜSTHOF,” she adds. The 600-square foot store is packed with small displays, arranging items by theme rather than product category. “We have a bunch of tables from a local craftsman that we pile with things,” said Dane. “We’re trying to find a good color story or a good vignette. People seem to enjoy the tour of taking it all in. People always comment, ‘It’s different in here than when I was last here.’”

Now Stock Culinary Goods is bustling. The biggest customer category is home cooks from the neighborhood. “It’s a dreamy place. The neighborhood itself is very mixed: it’s got health care professionals, students, artists, and a lot of families. We have a little toy kitchen; many kids just come in here to play,” said Dane. Another group that frequents Stock is culinary students from nearby Johnson and Wales University. “They’re the best; we love them. They’re so eager and so excited about exploration and learning,” says Dane. “We have some diehard people here. There will always be stock at restaurant supplies, but for the good stuff, the right tweezers, the good knives, we’ve got some things here where the quality can’t be matched by a big store.” Stock’s regular customers are often familiar with one another. “Our big themes are trying to be a community cooking store and just a really excellent environment for people who want to cook and go deeper. The collaborative nature of our stores, and I think my greatest joy, is when we have people in here, sharing, swapping stories, and connecting,” says Dane. She is always reaching out to meet and connect with new customers, even in the midst of interviews. “If you come in here, you will start a conversation. People come in and say they just moved into the neighborhood – I want to know where they moved from and what their interests are,” says Dane.

“To be your neighborhood kitchen store, one that knows its stuff and you, that is 100 percent what drives us.”