Pot + Pantry's retail shop. [Photo: Shopikon]
After two years selling kitchen supplies both old and new at 18th and Guerrero, Pot + Pantry has announced that they'll be closing their brick-and-mortar shop next Sunday, March 24. Fans of the shop will still be able to purchase goods online, however, and founder Donna Suh is whipping up a spiffy new website to sell her wares.
Suh says in a letter to customers that Pot + Pantry is closing its retail shop for "a lot of boring reasons," but the shop's phone was disconnected when we attempted to call and find out what those boring reasons were. "From the bottom of my heart, thank you, everyone, for the love you've shown," she writes.
In the meantime, customers are encouraged to swing by and shop: Wageman is offering 30% off her entire stock, excluding those beautiful food paintings by Kelly Waters that we featured earlier this month. The shop fixtures, like a steel spiral staircase and concrete sink, will be for sale as well. And for those who like a little pie with their shopping, Natalie Galatzer of Bike Basket Pies will come out of retirement to sell some mini-pies on Thursday.
Update, March 18, 12:22 pm: Suh got in touch to tell us a little more about the shop's closure. Basically, she wasn't getting enough day-to-day traffic to merit a brick-and-mortar anymore: "Our events have all been big hits, with great turnouts, lots of sales and lots of fun. Similarly, our online business has been brisk, particularly for goods that are local to SF being shipped elsewhere. The shop, however, also has all that overhead and requires me to be in one place all day seven days a week."
Suh's new online shop, scheduled for later in the spring, will shift away from used kitchenware and towards locally-made items that ship from SF to other parts of the country. "I love the idea of curating and documenting all the amazing things people are doing here. And without rent to worry about, I can throw bigger, more ambitious events in different venues around town at the same time. Let people buy Le Creuset at Bed, Bath & Beyond...I'm going to have neat things that you'll only be able to get from P+P."
· Pot + Pantry Exhibit Paints Iconic New Dishes [~ ESF ~]
· Pot + Pantry [Official website]