A Store for All Reasons
Avoca's tasteful food, garden and gifts.
By Quinn Halford -- Gifts and Dec, 3/1/2010 12:00:00 AM
Nursery, bakery, cafes, fashion, ceramics, glassware, menswear, housewares, jewelry, kidswear — the list goes on. And it can all be found in one store in the town of Kilmacanogue, some 45 minutes outside Dublin, Ireland.
Actually, variations of the store can also be found in eight other Irish locations and one in Annapolis, MD. The store is Avoca, and we visited it recently and were treated to an experience every storeowner would relish — an array of colorful product, a lush garden and greenhouse, racks of homemade jams, chutneys, mustards and marmalades, a selection of takeout meals, two enticing cafes, and fashions to suit both traditional and contemporary tastes.
Avoca is a family affair, owned and operated by the Pratt family, who bought the 1723 Avoca Handweavers mill in 1974. Today, Donald and Hilary Pratt and their four children are involved in all aspects of running this unique operation that has been likened to a cross between the Anthropologie stores in the U.S. and New York's ABC Carpet and Home. Still, that description doesn't do Avoca justice.
Home grown offerings
Much of the Avoca product originates in the company's design studio, also located in Kilmacanogue. Avoca Anthology and Avoca Original are two women's wear lines designed at the studio, with much of the product manufactured in Italy. Also originating in the studio are designs for bags, perfumes, ceramics and candles, even woolen covers for hot-water bottles.
The Avoca food halls feature a range of imported and local products as well as breads baked in-store. Salads, soups, sandwiches and tarts are displayed in deli-bars; some of the stores feature cheese and charcuterie rooms and hand-picked wines. Avoca also publishes its own cookbooks as well as a series of Soups, Salads, and Tea Time compact books that make perfect gifts.
The Kilmacanogue store has two cafes: the self-serve Sugar Tree and The Fern House, a light-filled room with views of the surrounding gardens, colorful even in January. The varied menu includes beef burgers with chips fried in duck fat, slices of thick bacon served atop savoy cabbage, and butternut squash salad.
All this is set in the midst of towering trees and landscaped grounds that are a natural feed into the store's nursery and garden center. As one writer in the trade magazine Retail Week wrote: “[Avoca] has the feel of a store where each item has been lovingly bought by a single buyer and manages to make something traditional feel contemporary. The merchandise is laid out as though you are looking around the house of a friend with very good taste.”
Avoca is also in the wholesale business exporting clothing to boutiques around the world, as well as its famous rugs and throws.
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