End of an Era for Wickford Gourmet

Joe and Donna Dubé met at URI in the ‘60s. After graduation, Joe’s sales career took them around the Midwest with Libbey Glassware until 1981, when they moved back east, to Wickford. They bought a two-building property on West Main Street, raising their family in the back building and their business in the front. First a tea shop, followed by a deli, restaurant, coffee bar, catering, cooking school and gift basket business. In 1998, they also opened the Wickford Gourmet Factory Outlet, just outside the village, with discontinued or closeout items at 40– 60% below retail prices. After selling the food business in 2005 and moving the Factory Outlet into Wickford Village in 2010, they have added more items every year. Commercial necessities—skillets, pots, pans, ingredient bowls, digital scales, knives, boards and multifarious kitchen tools—are big sellers, even to home cooks. Three nooks in the store are devoted to linens: placemats, napkins, aprons, tablecloths, tea towels, potholders and even a child’s chef hat and apron. Glassware has its own loft, including tumblers and goblets, bottles and jars, pitchers and punch bowls. But even with the store chock full, Joe and Donna have decided it’s finally time to retire. They’re hoping to find the right culinary-supply-minded individual to take over the reins by December.

Open seven days. 21 W. Main St., Wickford. 401.294.8430