Saturday, September 29, 2007
Food

On the table

New kitchen store offers worldly cooking equipment

Chef Kimberley Davis in action at Sur La Table. CREDIT: Spark St. Jude

By Hope S. Philbrick

Sur La Table recently opened its first Georgia retail store location in Atlanta’s Perimeter Mall. With a product lineup sourced from around the world, Sur La Table’s selection of cookware, tools, dishes, linens and glassware is designed to attract serious and aspiring cooks as well as folks who love to entertain either professionally or at home.
Kathy Tierney joined the company in 2004 as chief executive officer. She worked previously at the Nature Company, Smith & Hawken, Fitch North America, as an independent consultant, and, shortly after graduating from college, as a teacher with the Peace Corps in rural Fuji.

The Sunday Paper recently sat down with Tierney to learn more about the new-to-Atlanta foodie destination.

Q What’s the story behind Sur La Table?

A Sur La Table was founded in 1972 by Shirley Collins in Seattle’s Pike Place Farmers Market as a place for serious cooks to find cookware and bakeware products that were not readily available in the United States. Before Sur La Table opened, you couldn’t buy a pastry bag in Seattle. Shirley was a talented cook and wanted to provide Seattleites with a much-needed serious cooking store stocking hard-to-find tools. The store was modeled after the wonderful boutique kitchen stores found in Paris. It was purchased from Shirley in 1995 by the Behnke family of Seattle and is now owned by a group of private investors including the Behnke Family and Freeman Spogli.  

Currently there are 62 locations in 22 states plus the District of Columbia. Atlanta is our 62nd store location and the first store in Georgia.

How will Sur La Table distinguish itself from its competitors such as Williams-Sonoma, Crate & Barrel, Cook’s Warehouse and so on?

That’s what we face everywhere. I think we have a much broader assortment of merchandise and that is a really an important part of our success. We have things that are available only at Sur La Table; 30 percent of our products are things we’ve developed. We also shop the world to source very hard-to-find tools, such as truffle slicers and cherry pitters. Sur La Table’s product selection is much broader, more bohemian and less predictable than other stores. Often national and good independent stores may limit their selection to the brands they think are the best; we like to engage the customers and let them make the decision.

What types of products does the store specialize in?

We’re all about preparation and presentation. We offer everything you need to cook and beautifully present your meals. We’re also known for our amazing assortment of professional quality bakeware. We’re very worldly; at Sur La Table, you can find a Moroccan tagine, a Mexican molcajete, an Italian pasta machine, a French crepe pan, Japanese sushi tools and many more specialty items to prepare foods from other countries.

We just launched a beautiful tool line called “Things Cooks Love.” The tools are made in the United States and in Europe by decades-old artisan businesses: Our poultry shears are handmade by a gentleman in Italy who crafts only poultry shears, our melon baller from France has a hand-sharpened edge, and our granny fork is made in the United States by the same company that has been crafting them since 1837.

Why open a store in Atlanta, and why now?

Atlanta is a diverse and energetic city with a great passion for food and Perimeter Mall had an appealing tenant mix. Atlanta is a natural fit for us as we increase our presence in the South. We have many loyal catalog and e-commerce customers in Atlanta who are eager for us to open a Sur La Table store in their region. We will eventually have two or three more stores in Atlanta—Buckhead and Alpharetta, for sure! SP

For more information, visit www.surlatable.com.