Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Norfolk cookshop Cook to Perfection recently had two reasons to celebrate – its first birthday and “a very, very successful” initial year in the business.
Husband and wife team Alastair and Melanie Done had no retail or cookshop experience at all when they opened the King’s Lynn shop on June 2 last year, Alastair being a former policeman, and Melanie having a background in finance.
However, Alastair told HousewaresLive.net: “We’d wanted our own business for a long time and thought, ‘What doesn’t King’s Lynn have?’, and one thing was a cookshop. It was a big leap but we knew the time was right.
“It’s been very, very successful – we’ve met and gone beyond our targets. We’re the only cookshop in King’s Lynn – and within an hour’s drive in all directions.”
Last month’s birthday celebrations included buy-one-get-one free and half-price offers, and the shop also gave out free gifts to each customer and printed a 10%-off voucher. One customer even made the couple a special birthday cake.
Said Melanie: “All of this would not have been possible without the support of some of our suppliers, who provided free stock – Dexam, Kitchen Craft, Horwood, Alan Silverwood, Eddingtons, T&G Woodware, Typhoon, La Cafetiere, Elite Gift Tins and Kuhn Rikon.
“I appreciate that many companies are tightening their belts in these hard times, so we really appreciate the fact that these suppliers helped us make our first birthday a memorable one.”
