Canada’s Think Kitchen is mulling locations for a U.S. rollout. Of course, Canadian retailers are expanding cross-border into the U.S. all the time, so that is hardly unusual. This particular Canadian retailer, however, has been operating nearly 60 stores across almost a dozen countries — except the U.S., until now. The kitchen-accessories chain opened its first and so far its sole U.S. store just last month.
Montréal-based Think Kitchen, a division of kitchenware, decor and giftware retailer Stokes, Inc., boasts 30 company-owned showrooms across Canada, plus franchises in Panama, Venezuela and throughout the Middle East. Its debut U.S. store opened in Merrimack (N.H.) Premium Outlets, an open-air shopping center 35 miles northwest of Boston, on April 2. “In three years we’d like at least 10 [U.S.] stores,” said Stuart Shiveck, co-president and COO of Stokes. All of those will be company-owned, he says. “We’re going to concentrate on the Northeast for the beginning and keep it a regional chain. Pending success, we will roll it out, hopefully, across the country.”
The stores sell serving dishes, barware, cookware, bakeware, dinnerware and kitchen tools, chiefly of the store’s own brand. That house brand helped the Think Kitchen stores flourish at outlet centers across Canada, according to Shiveck, and the company is betting that the brand will catch on also with outlet shoppers south of the border. “We’ve been successful in Canada in that area of retail, so we’d like to devote ourselves to that niche in the States — outlet mall, kitchen, value-driven and midpriced,” Shiveck said. “The key is the value, otherwise you don’t need to be in an outlet mall.” Think Kitchen prefers in-line spaces measuring between 2,000 and 2,800 square feet, Shiveck says.
The chain has no special requirements and, given a clean space to add furniture and fixtures, is able to set up a store in about 60 days. Shiveck says the company is hoping to close a few deals at RECon for additional Think Kitchen stores. “It’s going to be gradual growth in the beginning, with maybe one or two stores opening in the fall,” he said. “If RECon goes well, we’ll look at doing another one or two next fall.”
On the overseas front, meanwhile, growth remains healthy. A Think Kitchen franchise store is set to open soon in Qatar. An opening later this year in Lebanon will be the eighth Think Kitchen store in that country, and the company is negotiating to open stores in yet another, still undisclosed territory. In Latin America, the company is in talks to open two franchise stores this fall — in Mexico City, adding to a regional store count that already boasts one showroom in Panama and three in Venezuela.
But a U.S. presence remains a key priority at this point. “The real growth potential for us at this point is really to the U.S.,” Shiveck said. “We want to be a major player there in the kitchenware category, in the outlet sector.”
Think Kitchen’s pricing, high-quality merchandise and upscale showrooms combine to make it a strong performer in the outlets sector, says Brad Cole, senior vice president of leasing at Simon Premium Outlets, which owns Merrimack Premium Outlets. “What attracted us to that brand was a perceived upscale product, which we felt was conducive to our core shopper, who is looking for a higher-quality brand at a discount,” Cole said. “The color scheme is very bright and pleasing, the store is very bright, and the whole merchandise presentation is very well done.”
The Think Kitchen debut U.S. store continues a relationship with landlord Simon, Cole says. Think Kitchen leased space at Toronto Premium Outlets, the outlet center Simon opened in 2013 in partnership with Canadian landlord Calloway REIT. That led to a Think Kitchen store at Simon’s next Canadian development, Premium Outlets Montréal, which opened the following year. “Somewhere in between, the owner of Think Kitchen approached me directly about coming into the Premium Outlet portfolio here in the U.S.,” Cole said. “They felt they would have great success here as a new, unique brand.” Cole initially urged Think Kitchen’s owners to consider space at some of Simon’s outlet centers farther south, in the mid-Atlantic states, but the company held out for a spot near the international border. “Their headquarters is in Montréal, so for them it’s a close proximity to cultivate the brand in the U.S.,” he said.
Because Think Kitchen sells its own branded merchandise, it was important to begin the U.S. rollout where many shoppers are already familiar with the retailer and its products, Cole notes. Merrimack’s cross-border customer base gives the new store a running start in introducing the brand in the Northeastern U.S. At some 2,000 square feet, the Merrimack store has room enough to carry a large inventory, requiring fewer deliveries than smaller stores, which will help the chain control operating costs as it develops a network of U.S. stores, says Cole.
Just where those additional stores will be remains to be seen. Think Kitchen has opened outlet stores with a variety of landlords in Canada in addition to those at Simon Premium Outlets — Ivanhoe-Cambridge, at the Outlet Collection at Niagara; Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, at Tanger Outlets Ottawa; and McArthurGlen, at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet, at Vancouver International Airport.
Cole says he would like to see more Think Kitchen openings at Simon retail centers in the U.S. “I’m pretty certain,” he said, “that we’ll have conversations about bringing them to other Premium Outlets.”