New kitchen, home store set to open in downtown; Lawrence Public Library lands on another ‘best of’ list

photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence Public Library, pictured Aug. 20, 2015.

When it comes to matters of the kitchen, my hunches are almost always right. (I still contend the issue with the pressure cooker was not a complete mistake since insurance covered the first $50,000 in damages.) And indeed, the speculation I recently reported on regarding a new kitchen store coming to downtown is correct.

Look for Delaney & Loew to open at 732 Massachusetts St. — the former home of Hot Box Cookies — later this fall. The new store hopes to become the go-to location for quality kitchen supplies, such as pots, pans, gadgets, knives, glasses, barware, small appliances like blenders and mixers, and even espresso machines.

“We’re going to have an area of the store where people can actually try out the espresso machine before they buy,” said Katie Moore, who will own the store with her husband, Brad.

The store fits in well with Katie’s passion for cooking, and marks a major change for Brad, who previously farmed in western Kansas. The couple met at KU, and the idea of getting back to Lawrence has never been far away.

“We always said if we won the lottery, we would move, and Lawrence is where we would move to,” Brad said. “We didn’t win the lottery, but we get to move back to Lawrence, so it feels like we won the lottery.”

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The pair said that while living in western Kansas they found a speciality kitchen store that was doing well in the small community of McCook, Neb., and felt that a similar model would work well in a food-oriented town like Lawrence.

“We thought Lawrence really didn’t have something like this,” Katie said. “We will try to have at least three brands of everything we carry. We will have something for the high-end chef and we’ll have something for someone just starting out in the kitchen.”

Katie said the store will seek to differentiate itself from the many big box stores that sell kitchenware by carrying hard-to-find brands, being able to offer more accurate advice, and having a much different presentation of the items.

“We want people to feel like they are walking into somebody’s home when they walk into the store,” Katie said.

In addition to the traditional cookware and kitchen supplies, the store also will have a large barbecue section and will sell some home furnishings, textiles, candles and other such items.

Construction work is underway to remodel the space on Massachusetts Street. Katie said she hopes to have the store open by the end of October.

In other news and notes from around town:

• When I want to look hip these days, I put on my Magnum P.I. floral print shirt and head to the Lawrence Public Library. The shirt is self-explanatory, but perhaps you haven’t caught on that the library is quickly becoming one of the more renowned places in Lawrence.

We’ve previously reported how the redesigned and expanded Lawrence Public Library building in downtown has won some nice recognition from design professionals and other groups that highlight libraries. Well, here’s another big-time listing for the library: Wired magazine has included Lawrence in a list of “10 of the most beautiful libraries on earth.” Lawrence is one of only two libraries in America to make the list. The Chinatown branch of the Chicago Public Library is the other.

To be fair, I think the list only looked at libraries that have been recently constructed or redesigned. Still, there have been a lot of those throughout the U.S., so it is noteworthy that Lawrence’s made the list. Among the items highlighted in the Wired piece are the extensive use of natural light throughout the library, and the photo used in the piece highlights the glass artwork that is suspended from the ceiling.

Click here to see for yourself, and to look at the full list.