If you need a tart pan, Lemon Gem Kitchen Goods will surely have them stocked when it opens in The Grove at 4180 Manchester Ave., this fall. Why? Owner Beth Styles’ missing tart pan sparked the idea for her kitchen supply store. With no nearby local shop near her house, she spent nearly an hour driving to and from an independent kitchen goods store.
“I started thinking, ‘Why don’t we a have a cool, really well stocked local resource in the city that has something for situations like these?” said Styles.
Her visits to kitchen supply stores around the country fed the idea, which she eventually shared with a few fellow St. Louis small business owners, including Rise Coffee owner Jessie Mueller. Mueller proposed Styles use Rise’s current location once Rise moves into a neighboring space.
“In a lot of other cities I’ve gone to, you see complementary businesses,” said Styles. “I just closed my eyes and I could see it in there. It just felt like the right fit.”
Styles, who also owns vintage clothing store Parsimonia, hopes to open Lemon Gem in November, pending when Rise moves next door. The lower level of the 1,300-square-foot space will be dedicated to retail. Lemon Gem (which is the name of an edible marigold variety) will carry basic cooking supplies from suppliers like OXO, Cuisinart, Microplane and Victorinox, artisan goods from local and regional craftspeople and items more geared toward gifts and decor. “We’re hoping to bring in some stuff that hasn’t been sold (in St. Louis) before and celebrate the maker,” Styles said.
Styles said she will alter little of the current interior decor or program. She plans to preserve the children’s area upstairs and add a community cookbook library with reading chairs. In the evening, the second floor will be available to hold events and workshops. “I want (Lemon Gem) to be a good local resource for the South City area in general, a good resource … for people for all cooking levels,” she said.
This article appears in August 2016.