comment PUNIT SHAH, Owner of Cooks Boutique at Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire On The Floor
was at Brick Lane Market in East London. Our assistant manager Maggie was shopping there, struck up a conversation with BambuuBrush, and within a week we were stocking their items.
What’s your background? I started off in engineering before moving into the housewares industry about 10 years ago. We initially started supplying universities with the basics needed for students, and have slowly evolved into what Cooks Boutique is today.
Tell us a bit about Cooks Boutique. Cook Boutique is a bricks-and-mortar store based at Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire which opened in December 2018. Although the brand has been around for five years, we decided we needed a bigger space and also a store. We now occupy about 4,000sq ft of space in
a lovely Art Deco building, and about half of this is used as retail space. We have exciting plans for the other half.
How would you describe your range? As a cookshop we have all the essentials that you would expect. We have a dedicated area for eco-friendly products such as reusable scourers and beeswax wraps. This has gone down really well with our customers, and they come back to buy repeats. Over the year we’ve increased our range to include more gifting items such as mugs and textiles from various well-known brands such as Ulster Weavers and Portmeirion.
How many suppliers do you deal with? We deal with approximately 30 suppliers - from some from the biggest names in the housewares industry to suppliers who are just starting out and working from a kitchen table. Having a bricks-and-mortar store has enabled us to stock brands that we necessarily would not have such as Joseph Joseph and KitchenAid.
How do you find products? Like any retail business, most of our products are sourced from trade shows, although this is slowly changing and we are using rep visits and even social media to source products. We have been lucky enough to visit many trade shows over the last few years and have made a lot of contacts.
One of our most memorable product finds 26 |
housewareslive.net •
HousewaresLive.net •
twitter.com/Housewaresnews December 2019
What are your best-selling lines? Kilo Scrubby (£3), Charles Viancin & Zeal silicone lids (£8-£18), Tradestock gin glasses (£5.50), Taylor’s Eye Witness paring knife (£6) and KitchenCraft espresso mugs (£2.50).
“Although it’s been a busy year for us we
have exciting plans for the future”
What products are selling well at the moment? Coming up to Christmas we’re selling a lot of festive cookie cutters as well as mugs, which customers are buying for Secret Santa presents. One surprise for us has been the number of Christmas pudding bowls that we’ve sold: many customers are buying multiples and we have had to restock a few times. As we get closer and closer to December 25, we anticipate selling more roasters, knives and baking equipment.
What’s on your counter? Kilo Scrubbys, KitchenCraft espresso mugs and Aerolatte milk frothers.
How many competitors are in your area? In north Hertfordshire there are very few competitors who sell the same brands that we do. The nearest areas with similar shops are Welwyn Garden City and Cambridge. Recently the local branch of Morrisons added
a large dedicated cookshop area which has affected sales - but it has rebounded as people realise our quality and service provided.
Who is your typical customer? It varies depending on the time of day. Most mornings we typically have customers aged over 50, who come to Letchworth from surrounding towns and villages by public transport and usually need to catch the bus back before midday. After lunch, we get a lot of mums who have young children, and during the weekends there are a lot more families who visit us.
How do you market and promote Cooks Boutique? We currently market our store through social media. The posts are kept fresh and relevant depending on the season/weather/local happenings. Over the year, we’ve been involved in a lot of local projects which has helped get our name out - although the most common comment we still hear after a year is: “I didn’t know this shop existed in Letchworth.” Therefore we will need to push harder with our marketing in 2020. One project we are part of, and which has been really successful, is the EcoVend Reverse Vending machine in
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